REPUBLICANS DECRY TOP PROSECUTOR’S ‘INSULT’

WASHINGTON—DEMOCRATIC

Representative Adam Schiff, making his closing argument in the impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump on Friday, had US senators listening respectfully until he mentioned a news report suggesting serious ramifications for Republican senators if they voted against the president. The mood on the Republican side of the aisle shifted. Dramatically.

“Not true,” Senator Susan Collins of Maine declared out loud as fellow Republicans responded audibly and disgustedly at Schiff’s remarks.

Collins is a moderate Republican whose support Democrats are trying to win. Her response and that of her colleagues was all the more notable because senators had been warned not to talk during the proceedings or face potential imprisonment.

But Schiff’s remarks had touched a nerve. Leading the prosecution of Trump for Democrats from the House of Representatives, Schiff cited a report suggesting that Republicans had been threatened.

“CBS News reported last night that a Trump confidante said that GOP senators were warned: vote against your president ... and your head will be on a pike,” Schiff said. He added, “I hope it’s not true. But I was struck by the irony of the idea.”

Republicans said they were insulted.

“The whole room was visibly upset on our side of it. It’s insulting and demeaning to everyone to say that we live in fear and that the president has threatened all of us,” Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma told reporters later. “Nothing like going through three days of frustration and then cap it off with an insult.”

Republicans control the US Senate and are not expected to convict and remove Trump from office in the impeachment trial. Many have complained that Schiff and other prosecuting lawmakers, known as managers in the trial, had presented a repetitive and unconvincing case against Trump.