Judging from reports and sketches coming out of the U.S. Senate, House Democratic impeachment managers are having a tough time keeping their audience’s attention.
As House prosecutors, led by U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, continue arguing their case to remove President Donald Trump from office, numerous media outlets are posting reports of dozing senators struggling to stay awake and focused through American history's third presidential impeachment trial.
On Tuesday, about 5:30 p.m., reporters described Idaho Republican James Risch as "motionless," as The Washington Post described it, "with his eyes closed and head slumped against his right hand." The scene was captured by New York Times sketch artist Art Lien:
Risch admitted to dozing off while another impeachment manager, U.S. Rep. Val Demings, spoke from the Senate well.
No cameras on the Senate gallery are being allowed, leaving some sketch artists to bring some of the legislative body’s more antiquated rules into modern, 21st-century America:
Almost immediately after Chief Justice John Roberts gaveled in Wednesday’s session, some senators openly flouted some basic guidelines in a chamber that prizes decorum.
A Democrat in the back row leaned on his right arm, covered his eyes and stayed that way for nearly a half-hour. Some openly snickered when Schiff said he’d only speak for 10 minutes ... and then launched into a two-hour Trump indictment.
»Read the best lines from President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial
And when one of the freshman House prosecutors stood to speak, many of the senators bolted for the cloak rooms, where their phones are stored.
“I do see the members moving and taking a break,” said U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, another prosecutor, in mid-speech at the center podium. “I probably have another 15 minutes.”
Only water and milk are allowed on the Senate floor. Senate rules also prohibit cellphones, and require senators to sit at their desks and listen, presumably attentively, to impeachment prosecutors and defenders.
“There’s coffee, but it’s miserable coffee” in the cloakrooms, according to Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana. “I mean, you would wish it on a Democrat, no one else.”
The second day of the trial, which was filled with Democratic attempts to subpoena witnesses, began at 1 p.m. Tuesday and ended early Wednesday at 1:50.
Fewer than 12 hours later, the senators were back, with little sleep, for more of the same impeachment story, told by Schiff and his team in exhaustive detail.
Well into Schiff’s second hour of opening arguments, he moved on from discussing the first of two charges against Trump.
“Now let me turn to the second article,” Schiff said. That prompted several senators to shift in their seats and smile at each other in apparent bemusement. It also sparked a small exodus for the cloakroom, especially on the Republican side, including Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri and Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
Within the first hour, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia could be seen at his desk in the back row, leaning on his right arm with a hand covering his eyes. He stayed that way for about 20 minutes, then shifted to rest his chin in the same hand, eyes closed, for about five more minutes.
Crow, a military veteran speaking on the impact of Trump’s holdup of military aid to Ukraine, had trouble holding the Senate’s attention. Some senators left their seats and headed to cloakrooms, stood in the back or openly yawned as he spoke. At one point during his address, more than 10 senators’ seats were empty.
“It was a long day, and the House managers did a lot of repeating the same material,” U.S. Sen Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, told reporters. “I’ve got 20 pages of notes, and toward the end, we were basically hearing the same thing over again. It was a diatribe.”
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