Former Defense Sec. William Cohen on partisanship and impeachment evidence -PBS NewsHour

[question everything]

(snip)

Judy Woodruff:

So, you have been asked this question 1,000 times. You're a freshman member of Congress. You're serving in the Judiciary Committee. How hard was it to go against your party and vote to impeach President Nixon?

William Cohen:

Well, people tend to forget, it was very partisan back in 1974 as well. Tensions were high. Passions were certainly high as well. There were bomb threats, death threats, a lot going on.

But it wasn't as deep and angry as it is today, and we didn't have social media back then, and we didn't have FOX News back then. I think the combination of FOX and social media has contributed to driving us even further apart, making us angrier than we were even in the past.

So it's a different atmosphere. It's difficult for members of Congress to go against President Trump. He punishes anyone who criticizes him. And even his own intelligence community, his own — our institutions are being politicized on a regular basis, from looking at the intelligence community, looking at the military, looking at the Justice Department. You can go through all of the institutions, and anyone who disagrees with him is publicly shamed. And so it's more difficult for members today to go against him, and there aren't as many — quote — "moderates" left in the Republican Party to make a difference.

(snip)

With respect to President Trump, he has also engaged in similar-type conduct, namely, to try to cover up what, in fact, he did, in the way of trying to force a foreign government to engage in activity that would help him politically. So he's using the political process, his power as the president of the United States, to use it for a personal goal. And that is, to me, an impeachable offense. I think the evidence is there now, but I think many of the members of the Senate want to have more evidence.

(snip)

I look at it from a — as a person who prosecuted cases and who defended cases. And, to me, the evidence is very clear. When you look at what the president did in his perfect phone call, I believe it was perfectly corrupt. I believe it was very clear what he had in mind in terms of, "I need a favor, though," having put in place his attorney and others to do all the work necessary to remove the professionals who would say, Mr. President, this is not right.

More..

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/former-defense-sec-william-cohen-on-partisanship-and-impeachment-evidence

[Hermit-The-Prog]

1. GOPer Senators want something with which to cover their ass

It's not evidence the GOPers need; it's an ass covering. That presumes, of course, that they would prefer not to aid in the destruction of democracy, or they need to believe they can't get away with it.