The Democrats' latest attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the 2016 election is finally done.  Impeachment is over. 

As White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham stated (emphasis added):  

In what has now become a consistent tradition for Democrats, this was yet another witch-hunt that deprived the President of his due process rights and was based on a series of lies.  Rep. Adam Schiff lied to Congress and the American people with a totally made up statement about the President’s phone call.  Will there be no retribution?  Speaker Nancy Pelosi also lied to the American people about the need to swiftly pass impeachment articles they dreamt up, only to sit on them for a month before sending over to the Senate.  In the Senate, the Democrats continued to make their political motivations clear – Rep. Schiff proclaimed the issues “cannot be decided at the ballot box” – proving once again they think they know better than the voters of this country.  This entire effort by the Democrats was aimed at overturning the results of the 2016 election and interfering with the 2020 election.

One of the favorite attack lines of the Democrat House Managers and their more biased media supporters was a mischaracterization of Professor Alan Dershowitz's statement: “if a president did something that he believes will help him get elected — in the public interest — that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”  An example of the left’s reaction to this quote:

“This is what you hear from Stalin,” said CNN contributor Joe Lockhart, who served as White House press secretary under President Bill Clinton. “This is what you hear from Mussolini, what you hear from authoritarians, from Hitler, from all the authoritarian people who rationalized, in some cases genocide, based what was in the public interest."

We will keep giving a few tidbits on the previous day’s impeachment proceedings.  Today we are going to focus on few highlights from Monday with a brief preview of what will happen tomorrow.  The bottom line is an impeachment over policy differences or for partisan reasons cannot be legitimate.

As President Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow explained yesterday:

Sekulow on Monday invoked the House testimony of White House Ukraine adviser Alexander Vindman, who told lawmakers he opposed Trump’s actions on the July phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“He himself said he did not know if there was a crime or anything of that nature. He had deep policy concerns,” Sekulow said. “And I think that’s what’s this is really about: It’s deep policy concerns. Deep policy differences. But we live in a constitutional republic.”

The defense attorney said, “It is our position as the president’s counsel that the president was at all times acting under his constitutional authority, under his legal authority, in our national interest and pursuant to his oath of office. Asking a foreign leader to get to the bottom of issues of corruption is not a violation of an oath.”

The President's impeachment legal defense team took a very different tactic that seemed more effective than the repetitive histrionics of the House managers led by Rep. Adam Schiff. 

The White House team also displayed quick-cut video presentations on the Senate’s overhead screens, turning soundbites from key players in the impeachment case into fast-snapping clips. It all seemed to command the attention of senators, likely a welcome change of pace for those who had grown tired of the prosecution’s long and often repetitive presentations.

Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow gave his word to the senators, “We’re not going to play the same clips seven times.” That prompted smiles from some senators.

We have selected some House Republicans' tweets to respond to lead Democrat impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff’s presentation today.

As the Senate began impeachment proceedings today, RNLA Co-Chair Harmeet Dhillon described how House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff's actions as de facto prosecutor in the House would result in sanctions and likely disbarment if engaged in by a prosecutor in court:

Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy had strong and swift reactions to Speaker Pelosi finally sending over the articles of impeachment. 

On the delay, Leader McCarthy said:

Instead of sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial, Speaker Pelosi held them hostage in a failed play to gain leverage that she did not — and would never — have…

…these delay tactics were self-serving, hypocritical, and discrediting. But they made an important admission. Some might even call it a concession: Democrats did not believe their case was robust enough to win in trial…

… the idea of withholding a sloppy impeachment case to force the Senate to change its rules is constitutionally and politically unheard of. Frankly, it’s ridiculous…

Some Senate Democrats want to get on with the impeachment trial and are fed up with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s delays and gamesmanship.  Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said it most strongly:

“The longer it goes on, the less urgent it becomes,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Politico.

“So if it’s serious and urgent, send them over. If it isn’t, don’t send it over.”

In Congress, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continues to be a leader following the longstanding bipartisan tradition of the Senate. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continue to play partisan games.  The most recent example unfolded yesterday regarding the situation in the Middle East.

Leader McConnell said yesterday on the Iranian situation:

‘I spoke yesterday about President Trump’s decision to remove the chief architect of Tehran’s terrorism from the battlefield. And I discussed the Senate’s obligation to approach this in a manner that is serious, sober, and factual.

It is right for senators to want to learn more about the president’s major decision. Once again, I encourage all our colleagues to attend the classified briefing which the administration will provide tomorrow.

‘The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the CIA Director will give classified context behind the president’s decision. And they will discuss the administration’s strategy to protect our personnel and defend our nation’s interests in the new landscape.

Today, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reiterated that he will not let the House Democrats dictate the Senate's impeachment trial procedures:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking from the chamber’s floor Friday, rejected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s efforts to shape a pending impeachment trial as “fantasy”—leaving the process at a standstill as lawmakers return from the holiday recess.

“Their turn is over. They’ve done enough damage. It’s the Senate’s turn now to render sober judgment,” McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor. . . .