let's bring an Ari Fleischer for a White
House press secretary joining us now Ari
good morning thank you for being here an
Economic Forum you're very familiar with
the president overseas is his
impeachment trial is underway here at
home your thoughts this morning Ari what
a perfect almost split screen I think
Washington is consumed with this
partisan leverage game of one party
hates the other the other party hates
the other back and that's what you see
in the Schumer news conference while the
president is conducting the nation's
policies and business I think that's the
exact image the president wants to
portray and should portray throughout
the next couple of weeks as impeachment
drags on
it's almost interesting how he's taken
very few questions on impeachment or
very few questions at all while he's
been in Davos this morning he gave it a
very powerful economic speech Charles
Payne was here said it was the best
economic speech he's delivered in his
presidency and he's had several
bilateral meetings this morning but he's
somewhat quiet on impeachment back here
at home earlier he called it a hoax
taking one question on it but Ari so far
this morning we heard from the House
impeachment managers and we heard from
Democratic leaders in the Senate but not
a huge response from the White House so
far this morning yeah I'm not sure it'll
stay that way no one president Trump's
previous pattern it wouldn't surprise me
if he just goes after it on Twitter or
says something at some point later I
would advise him not to that he doesn't
listen but I just think policy and
running the country is his best foot
forward and leave this Washington noise
and nonsense to others that's what
impeachment has become has just become
the typical partisan games that
everybody is used to and tired of let
the president rise above so as all of
this is happening you just heard Chuck
Schumer the minority leader in the
Senate saying that he is going to come
up with something to respond to Mitch
McConnell in his resolution talking
about more documents being subpoenaed
witnesses being called what do you think
we're gonna see unfold as this resumes
this afternoon Ari I think we're just
going to continue to see the typical
gamesmanship and leveraging and
maneuvering that in Washington is known
for I heard about hard time seeing a
principal and he where in sight you know
what's happened here is the two parties
of switch
when the impeachment was before the
House House Republicans complained
bitterly about the process now Senate
Democrats in the minority are check
complaining bitterly about the process I
think the only thing that really matters
is getting beyond this because it's a
complete waste of time
and there's a remedy in our
constitutional system when people feel
this deeply about something and it's
called an election absent a crime and I
see no crime committed by the president
you solve these problems where one party
says the other president did wrong and
both the president's defenders say he
did right in the course of an election
where the American people decide not 535
elected individuals in Washington DC and
that's why I think senator frankly this
whole thing is a waste of time about
rules that in the end do not matter no
one's going to remove the president from
office other than the American people or
he's gonna get reelected let's wait till
November it's about rules and at the
crux of the debate is whether or not
witnesses will be called mark Meadows
who's been deployed as far as part of
the president's defense team said this
morning responding to Chuck Schumer's
allegation that no witnesses called
means this is a cover-up on the part of
Republicans here's mark meadows you
continue to hear stuff from Chuck
Schumer how this is a cover-up how
actually things are not going the way
that he wanted them to go I can tell you
when we were in the house it was an
unfair process there where were our
Democrat senators they were over on the
Senate side at the Senate lunch room
sipping lattes congratulating themselves
on an unfair process so Ari is there any
possibility that both sides can be
appeased by what gets decided and how
this all plays out in the Senate I don't
rule that out I don't rule out that
ultimately after all this noise and
maneuvering is done in the next day or
two and we begin the actual impeachment
trial that a small group will rise up
and consent to have the following three
witnesses come by I don't think at the
end of the day it matters much the
outcome will be the same if they have
three witnesses who are relevant fine if
they have no witnesses fine and I think
a small group could come to that in a
few days but first Chuck Schumer has to
beat his chest and get this off of him
and act like what House Republicans do
you know when it was in the house we had
secret hearings where Republicans got to
pick no witnesses and then when they had
the public hearings Republicans didn't
get the witnesses they wanted they were
given the witnesses the Democrats told
them they could have and so why is that
fair but this isn't fair
that's why when you're in the minority
you're in the minority the majority
rules this is a political process it is
not a court of law trial well we will
hear from both sides in 50 minutes from
now Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer as
all this resumes in Washington ari
fleischer thank you