Chief Justice John Roberts calls for decorum as impeachment devolves into fight over who lies more

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a stern warning to the House impeachment managers and President Donald Trump’s counsel in the final hours of the first day of the Senate impeachment trial after speeches by both sides began to feature personal attacks.

Both House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler and White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow called each other liars; Nadler accused senators of treachery; and Sekulow said it was Nadler who was being treacherous.

“It is appropriate at this point for me to admonish both the House managers and the president’s counsel in equal terms to remember that they are addressing the world’s greatest deliberative body,” Roberts said. “Those addressing the Senate should remember where they are.”

The tension that led to those remarks seemed to have little to do with either side forgetting where they were, however, and more to do with Democrats’ frustration over the counsel’s willingness to misrepresent key facts — and at times, to simply lie.