Setting the agenda for the Senate impeachment trial, Chief Justice John Roberts blocked Kentucky Republican Rand Paul from asking a question yesterday that would have revealed the identity of the alleged whistleblower in the so-called Trump-Ukraine scandal.
Roberts holds all the cards because senators must present their questions to the House’s impeachment managers or President Trump’s defense team beforehand, which the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice then reads aloud.
But Paul isn’t prepared to give up without a fight.
Fox News’ Gregg Re explains:
The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis condemned what he called Roberts’ “arbitrary and unilateral censorship of senators and Senate business,” and reported that Roberts had initially sought to block even general questions of the intelligence community whistleblower. When Republicans threatened a vote rebuking Roberts on the record, Davis reported, Roberts backed down and decided only to prohibit mentioning the whistleblower’s name.
A reporter for Roll Call observed that during a break in the trial Wednesday, Paul was fuming.
“I don’t want to have to stand up to try and fight for recognition,” Paul shouted, according to reporter Niels Lesniewski, who noted that Paul’s complaint was “audible from the galleries above the chamber.”
“If I have to fight for recognition, I will,” Paul said.