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It's only clear beyond a shadow of a doubt if 67 Senators says it is after an impeachment trial. We already had a preview when Trump beyond a shadow of a doubt extorted the President of Ukraine to announce an investigation of Joe and Hunter Biden. The transcript of the perfect phone call along with the testimony of Ambassadors Yovanovitch and Sondland should have been the nails in the Trump coffin.What we observed was Republican Senators reacting in two different ways. There was the Lindsey Graham who made up his mind that he wasn't going to listen to any evidence. Then you had the pearl clutching frauds like Susan Collins, Lamar Alexander and Lisa Murkowski who found the president's behavior "deeply disturbing" but not enough to find him guilty.But the real culprits in this story are the American people who will vote to reelect this rogues gallery.The FBI is part of the Justice Department headed by Attorney General Barr. There is no chance they will arrest the president. Impeachment is the only remedy and there is no chance of conviction.

When Kobe was brought in for questioning by the police in Colorado in response to a rape allegation, in his initial response to the police, he claimed that the tryst was consensual and that it was similar to other extramarital activities he had engaged in regularly in LA. He followed this revelation by expressing his hope that the story wouldn’t go public. Given that he was married with a new baby at home, I certainly wouldn’t blame him for hoping it could all stay quiet. But that wasn’t the reason he gave the police. Instead he explained that he was worried about his image and his endorsement deals.There never seemed to be strong evidence to support the rape claim, but the way during that extremely stressful time that he thought only of himself and not his wife and new baby was incredibly disappointing. I was never able to be a Kobe fan after the police transcripts were made public and that story came out.

A few reasons, I suspect:First off, they’re still investigating the whistleblower’s evidence, and assessing what actually happened. The Acting Director of National Intelligence asserted that he did not investigate the contents of the whistleblower’s complaint - the content of that will ultimately be something for Congress to deal with.Republicans in the Senate have traditionally proven themselves very quiet on any matter involving possible misconduct by Donald Trump. Although several have spoken out in the past, they have done this largely on their way to resignation, knowing that they risk re-election if they criticise the President (since he’s popular with the Republican base). They won’t speak out until they see which way the wind blows.Do also observe that the first aspect of impeachment is the focus of the House and not the Senate: the House impanels hearings (as they are now doing), and may eventually draw up Articles of Impeachment. If these pass with a simple majority, then the matter will be turned over to the Senate, at which point, the President would be placed on Trial. Since the Senate do not yet need to be involved, commenting at this stage would be largely premature - and easy to paint as biased, particularly if they step up in defense of a President who is proved to be corrupt or even criminal during the impeachment proceedings.Plus, let’s be honest: until Mitch McConnell decides on a party line for the GOP, nothing’s going to be said outside of a handful of outliers. We’ve heard from Lindsey Graham in his usual attempt to defend the President’s excesses, but the rest won’t act until McConnell does - and that, as ever, will be dependent on what happens in the House.That noted, CNN put together a good list of comments made by Senate Republicans so far. Allow me:Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford and North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven each said they were in appropriations mark-ups and hadn’t yet read the full complaint.Indiana Sen. Mike Braun said he hadn’t read it either, adding that he didn’t know about the allegations to “lock down” information at the White House. Braun went on to say that he didn’t feel the complaint would change Republican’s views of impeachment, and said the Democrats had made a mistake starting an impeachment inquiry before knowing more about the complaint.Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander said he has not read the complaint. “I’m waiting for the intelligence committee to finish its work."Ohio Sen. Rob Portman said he said he’s been “running around” all day and hasn't read it and would not comment.Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton said “no comment” twice and boarded a senators-only elevator when asked if he was concerned the White House was locking down information.Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said “I’ll have a better idea of how credible he is later this afternoon" when asked if he is concerned about the strong allegations from a credible whistleblower.Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, told reporters he has read the whistleblower’s complaint, and says he has “more questions than answers.”Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that there was “nothing there” when asked about the rough transcript of President Trump's call with the Ukrainian leader. On the whistleblower complaint, he said that he prefers to look at the primary document, meaning the rough transcript.South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds said “they are using second-hand information right now. Let’s let the committee investigate it."Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst said she hasn't had time to read the whole complaint, saying, “I am going to have to dig into it."Funny how I’ve had chance to read it before most of the Republicans in the Senate. You’d think it would be their duty to read such an important document before the average Joe…Anyway, in the interim, most of the back-and-forth will be between House Democrats and the White House, one pushing impeachment (as well they should), and the other claiming (as ever) that Trump hasn’t done anything wrong, and that they’re all innocent victims of a partisan attack. That party line’s getting a little stale at this point. After all, there’s plenty of evidence for proving misconduct this time around. “The Democrats are out to get us” simply won’t cut it now.