For shame, GOP

With Republicans refusing to hear the testimony of a man in the room with vital evidence to offer, it’s all over but the shouting. It is disgraceful that, for the first time in any impeachment — judicial or presidential — a Senate trial will refuse to hear a single witness. More troubling, several Republicans now acknowledge Donald Trump’s guilt in orchestrating a nefarious plot.

Even as he announced his plans to bring the trial to a close, Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander admitted that the House managers made their case: “It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law.”

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, also voting against more witnesses pronounced Trump’s behavior “inappropriate and wrong.”

Alexander and Portman are trying to say: The president did bad things, but nothing that merits impeachment and removal.

But how do they know? They’re covering up testimony that could make things look even worse for Trump.

Indeed, even as the witness debate began Friday, the New York Times reported that ousted Trump aide John Bolton’s unpublished manuscript alleges that in an early May meeting — just weeks after Joe Biden announced his presidential campaign — Trump ordered Bolton to help extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials.

As such new information continues to come to light, all Republican senators covering their eyes and ears should hang their heads in shame.