It may seem like old news, but Allahpundit’s post on this is compelling and infuriating.

[K]nowing that she was likely to end up on a political island here with Trumpers furious at her, Herrera Beutler stepped forward by issuing her statement. She was offering herself as a witness, knowing that it would make her MAGA public enemy number one. That takes guts. The least Democrats could do would be to call her as a witness and make sure that her show of courage didn’t go for naught — one would think.

But they choked. The House impeachment managers did ask for a vote authorizing the calling of witnesses on Saturday morning, after Herrera Beutler’s statement had jolted the trial. And unexpectedly, with help from Senate Republicans, it passed. It was a momentous victory for Democrats, opening the door potentially to calling Herrera Beutler to testify, maybe McCarthy, maybe Mike Pence. Trump’s defense team warned that if prosecution witnesses were called, they’d call 100 or more witnesses for the defense — but that was a bluff, since each witness would need to be called by a majority vote of the Senate and Republicans didn’t have 51 votes. And because the Senate was about to recess for a week, spending a few days deposing Herrera Beutler and others wouldn’t have bumped into any pressing business like the COVID relief bill.

Senate Dems couldn’t be bothered.

The bitterest and best line:

I hope Chris Coons had the best g-ddamned Valentine’s Day ever, seeing as how that was more important to him than dramatic on-camera testimony by a member of Trump’s own party about how he had behaved on January 6. The two sides ended up compromising on Herrera Beutler: In return for Dems not calling her as a witness, the GOP would allow lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin to read into the record the newspaper story described above in which Herrera Beutler recounted what McCarthy told her about the call with Trump. It would be part of the official record, in other words.

But live evidence is always more compelling, as I wrote in my most recent Substack newsletter, which Allahpundit was kind enough to link to in his post. If you haven’t opened that one up yet, you should, as it gives you a little insight into the decisions a prosecutor makes in presenting a case. If you haven’t subscribed, you can fix that oversight easily by clicking here. I’m trying to stretch my writing a little harder to provide interesting content in the newsletter.

I’m going to make a donation to Herrera Beutler. She needs to know that courage is appreciated. Heaven knows she’s getting no appreciation from the people around her. Only betrayal on top of betrayal.