the president are still hoping and expecting that votes on the articles against president trump might in the end be slightly bipartisan. it turns out in term of the time line, there is no month of christmas exclusion rule. nbc news has just reported that lawmakers this year have been advised by house leadership that they should be available to be in washington whether for votes on articles or for other work related to the impeachment proceedings as late as the 21st and 22nd of december, this month. in the letter that was sent to the judiciary committee today by the white house counsel, the one with the gigantic signature by mr. cipollone is unlike president nixon and president clinton, president trump is apparently not going to send defense counsel to represent him and make arguments on his behalf and do things like cross examine witnesses at the impeachment hearings. both president nixon and president clinton did that.