More than four years later, on the other side of Capitol Hill, senators spent much of their afternoon listening to Donald Trump’s lawyers during a Senate impeachment trial, which included lengthy attacks against presidential hopeful Joe Biden. A Washington Post analysis described Team Trump’s attacks against the Delaware Democrat as “weak,” “sloppy,” and “wildly misleading.” Point to one particular line of attack launched by Pam Bondi, the analysis added that the Florida Republican “shared untrue claims as though they’d never been assessed for veracity at all.”
And why, pray tell, would the president’s lawyers try to defend their client by going after one of his rivals with bogus smears? One Senate Republican offered a possible explanation.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) says she’ll be watching the upcoming Iowa caucus results to see if Democratic voters sour on former Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 presidential contender, after the arguments presented by President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team on Monday.
“I’m really interested to see how this discussion today informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters. Will they be supporting Vice President Biden at this point?” Ernst, a member of GOP leadership, asked at a press conference Monday.
As former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), an MSNBC political analyst, noted on Twitter soon after, “Umm. I think Joni just gave up the game.”