Another Front Page Denver Post Report on Gardner “Making Himself Scarce” Instead of Answering Questions

Second Denver Post Front Page in as Many Weeks Calls Out Gardner’s Evasion, Refusal to Break With Trump and McConnell

Senator Cory Gardner continues to earn front-page coverage for “making himself scarce” instead of telling Coloradans why he’s supporting Mitch McConnell’s efforts to move forward with a trial that does not guarantee first-hand witnesses will testify or that new evidence will be admitted. 

“Silence has become the norm” for Senator Gardner, who once promised that “when my party is wrong, I’ll say it,” but has now spent months dodging press and refusing to answer basic questions about Trump’s conduct–like whether it’s wrong for a president to ask a foreign government to interfere in U.S. elections. 

Fact checkers have confirmed “it’s true, Gardner isn’t straying from President Trump and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,” despite the fact that Coloradans across the political spectrum support a fair trial with witnesses and a full hearing of the evidence. 

Take a look at the scrutiny the most vulnerable Republican incumbent has earned at home and in the national press today:

Denver Post: Speculation surrounds Cory Gardner’s vote on impeachment witnesses

By Justin Wingerter

January 14, 2020

Key Points:

• Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado isn’t saying whether he is part of a small group of Republican senators considering allowing witnesses as impeachment charges against President Donald Trump prepare to move to Congress’ upper chamber.

• Gardner’s office declined again Tuesday to answer questions from The Denver Post about whether he would support a motion to dismiss the two charges against Trump or vote to allow witnesses in a Senate trial that’s expected to begin next week.

• Silence has become the norm for Gardner on the topic of impeachment. His office previously declined to say whether witnesses should be called and whether he agrees with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “total coordination” with the White House.

• Gardner’s political opponents on both the right side of the spectrum and the left side have not waited to find out where, exactly, he stands. They have scheduled protests outside his Denver office, called his Washington office and crafted aggressive video ads bashing him for impeachment votes they expect him to take.

• “You’re just another Trump servant: weak, frightened, impotent. A small man terrified of a political bully,” states an ad debuted Monday by The Lincoln Project, a super PAC for prominent anti-Trump Republicans. The group’s co-founders shared the anti-Gardner video with their large Twitter followings and sent it bouncing around the internet Monday.

New York Times: 3 Republicans Are Open to Impeachment Witnesses, but Democrats Need a 4th

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg

January 14, 2020

Key Points:

• Mr. Gardner can ill afford to break with Mr. Trump.

• Senators Joni Ernst of Iowa, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Martha McSally of Arizona and Mr. Gardner all face tough contests in states that are not nearly as conservative as they used to be.

• “This is Cory’s problem, or challenge: There’s a very restless Republican base in Colorado and Cory cannot afford to alienate that base because he cannot afford any defections from the base in a general election,” said Richard Wadhams, a Republican strategist in Colorado who is close to Mr. Gardner.

• “He’s in a very vulnerable position right now in the Senate election,” Mr. Wadhams added, “but believe me, it is much more dangerous for him to appear not to be supporting Trump than it is to be supporting McConnell and the president in Colorado.”

• The pressure on Mr. Gardner mounted on Monday when the Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans that describes itself as “dedicated to defeating President Trump and Trumpism,” targeted him in a brutal advertisement that described the Colorado senator as “just another Trump servant — weak, frightened, impotent — a small man, terrified of a political bully.”

• “Colorado voters want a fair trial in the Senate and honest leadership,” the ad said. “Either do your job, or Colorado will find someone who will.”

• In the Capitol on Tuesday, Mr. Gardner was making himself scarce. When Republicans wrapped up a luncheon featuring a discussion of trial procedure, he zipped out a back door and headed for a little-used elevator, avoiding a throng of waiting reporters.

• “I’m sorry, he’s got to get going,” an aide to Mr. Gardner told a reporter who followed him, as the elevator doors opened and the senator slipped inside. Then Mr. Gardner jumped in, begging off any discussion of whether he could be the elusive fourth vote who could upend hopes of a quick acquittal of Mr. Trump.

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