The House Democrats have been accusing the Senate of conducting a sham trial because there will be no witnesses are allowed. They have said, ad nauseum, that the Senate trial must have witnesses, and if the Senate won't vote to have witnesses, then they will be part of the biggest cover-up since Watergate.
All of the managers have repeated this argument fervently, eloquently, passionately. Blah, blah, blah.
The House Democrats obviously believe that Americans have very short memories. It was only two months ago that the entire country was held captive by the House Intelligence Committee and then the House Judiciary Committee for weeks during their "impeachment inquiry." Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler tried to muzzle the Republicans on those committees, but they couldn't completely silence them. Representatives Elise Stefanik, Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan, Devin Nunes, Louis Gohmert and others did their best and succeeded to show the unfairness, the sham of the inquiry and the unfitness of the "witnesses."
Republican representatives stormed the secret meetings in the SKIF, and told the American people were told that the president was not allowed to have counsel present in the inquiry for over 70 days. The Republicans on the committees were not allowed to call any witnesses that might contradict the Democrat's charges. These hearings were not fair.
The"witnesses" that were called were asked leading questions so the Democrats could get the soundbites they wanted to further their case, but the Republicans poked holes in their case by exposing the unfitness of the witnesses. Not a single witness had first-hand knowledge of any wrong-doing by the president, including the so-called "whistleblower."
The "witnesses called before the Judiciary committee were just legal "experts" with opinions and/or disdain about and for the president, Jonathan Turley excepted. They had no first-hand knowledge of any wrongdoing. This evidence was no evidence at all, but the Democrats ran with it, knowing the media would cover for them.
The Democrats in the House declared after their inquiry, that their case was airtight, undisputed, and indisputable. They drafted their articles of impeachment and voted to adopt them.
All the Democrats but one, voted for the first article, "abuse of power." A Democrat joined the Republicans in voting no. The second article, "obstruction of Congress," was similarly adopted, except that a couple more Democrats joined the Republicans in voting no.
The articles contained no charges of a crime, and in a court of law, would be rejected. But an impeachment trial is not a court of law, and so the Senate had to receive them.
So the Senate spent a very late night debating what the rules of the trial would be, with the House managers demanding witnesses. Then the Senate listened to the opening arguments in which the Democrats frenetically accused the president of crimes for 23 hours over three days, and yet charged him with zero crimes. They accused the Senate at the same time, saying that if the Senate didn't do what the Democrats wanted they would be undermining the constitution!
The Senate listened to the much more respectful opening argument in defense of the president. The president's lawyers spent two hours on the first day of their 24 hour period, and just a normal time on day two.
The Senate and the country sat through 16 hours of questions over a period of two days, probably with a collective sigh of relief, because Chief Justice Roberts asked the questions, and the hysterical Democrats only spoke half the time. The other half of the time, the president's legal team, especially Pat Philbin, spoke with dignity and clarity, which was a balm to this weary soul.
The Senate provided a fair forum with ample time for the Democrats to make their case. They failed to bring actual crimes to be tried, and they know they have failed.
Acquittal is fair when the impeachment is a sham. It is time to vote to acquit President Donald Trump. No crimes, no removal.