With witnesses in the House impeachment trial looking questionable, ABC on Tuesday lamented the Democratic strategy, lashing out at Nancy Pelosi and the House for botching the effort to remove Donald Trump. During a live interview, Senator Richard Blumenthal said of the move to not have witnesses: “They may have the votes at this moment.”

An alert George Stephanopoulos noticed this and remarked that the Democrat “may have buried the lede,” adding, “He said about six sentences in they may have the votes at the moment.” Reporter Terry Moran, no conservative, chided: “They may have the votes to block the calling of witnesses. Once again, it does raise questions about the Democratic strategy to fast track an impeachment before Christmas.”

Moran critiqued the Democratic effort to move impeachment so fast, especially in light of the new John Bolton book:

That book was on its way to the White House. Slow and steady, even maybe taking cases to court. That would be out in the House of Representatives now and may be building public support. Right now, the trial is heading towards a conclusion. That vote on witnesses, which as Richard Blumenthal says does not look at this point like it will go the way that the House managers and Democrat want and will not lay down a record in the Senate trial of what we know to be the facts. That is coming our way.

He warned of the judgment of history, should there be no witnesses: “It will raise questions, I think, with historians and perhaps with voters about how the House of Representatives, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi handled this impeachment.”

Moran has been consistently unimpressed in the way the Democrats handled the impeachment efforts. In December, he chided Pelosi, saying, “I cannot figure out what the strategy Nancy Pelosi has.... I don’t get what her leverage is here.”

Last week, he cheered the “senatorial eloquence” of “meticulous,” “classic” Adam Schiff.

A few minutes later, Jon Karl cheered Senator Lamar Alexander, pushing him to be like the late Republican Howard Baker. Karl even forgot that Baker was dead, saying of Alexander: “If the other three voted for witnesses, you would need Howard Baker to be the fourth vote. I'm sorry. You need Lamar Alexander to be the fourth vote.”



A transcript is below: