Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y. holds up a copy of a White House released rough transcript of a phone call between President Donald Trump and the President of Ukraine as Schumer speaks to the media about an impeachment inquiry on President Trump, Wednesday Sept. 25, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer just finished giving a press conference on his vision for how the impeachment trial of President Trump will be carried out. His opinions are very, very important to the Washington chattering class because, despite being in the minority, everyone knows it is the Democrats who control everything and therefore, to be truly learned, one must hang upon every word coming from whatever Democrat is speaking.

Below is the full news conference. Don’t be intimidated by the length, I have it cued up to start when Schumer begins his statement.

Yesterday, Schumer released a letter — more accurately a list of demands — he sent to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. (READ: Schumer Sends Letter Including Witness Request List for Senate Trial to Mitch McConnell, Good Luck Chuck.) This presser just reiterated the highlights.

Here are some highlights via Twitter:

Schumer is already complaining about a potential Senate trial calling it “Very Partisan, Very Slanted, Very Unfair”

What does he think of how the House has been handling things?

Democrats wanted a Partisan Impeachment and now that they got one, they’re complaining. pic.twitter.com/KVJu1TXwye

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) December 16, 2019

Sen. Chuck Schumer: "I haven't seen a single good argument about why these witnesses shouldn't testify, or these documents be produced—unless the president has something to hide." https://t.co/NUm0IUzWHA pic.twitter.com/vtOL5iLepG

— ABC News (@ABC) December 16, 2019

Sen. Chuck Schumer says instead of speaking to him about rules for possible Senate impeachment trial, Sen. Mitch McConnell "spoke publicly…and said he was taking his cues from the White House. It was very partisan, very slanted, very unfair." https://t.co/sXW4fquAc2 pic.twitter.com/15qalT8jY5

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) December 16, 2019

Sen. Chuck Schumer: "I expect to have the support from Democrats and Republicans, because the argument is so strong." https://t.co/lZzoCtyv1v pic.twitter.com/ZXAefA8ZZO

— ABC News (@ABC) December 16, 2019

Basically what Schumer wants is two things.

First, he wants to bully McConnell into doing things the way Schumer wants them done. He’s doing this by throwing up a cyclone of blue smoke and bullsh** to create the narrative — a narrative that will be dutifully pushed by a tame and compliant press in utter thrall to the Democrat party — that the Senate proceeding is inherently unfair unless Chuck Schumer is in charge of it.

Secondly, he is demanding that witnesses who have no known value beyond their positions in the Trump administration be called. This is nonsense. The witnesses called by Schiff and Nadler comprise 100% of the witness universe. McConnell should only allow witnesses with direct, first-hand knowledge of the exact charges and specifications in the Articles of Impeachment to be called. He should not be allowed to call administration officials and question them about privileged conversations they have had with President Trump. We know all we need to know. We have the transcript of the call. We have the testimony of Ambassador Sondland. We have OMB’s timeline of all aid requests targeted for Ukraine. There is zero reason to let Senate Democrats obfuscate the charges the Senate will consider.

The question is whether McConnell will go along with this nonsense to try to give Schumer what he says he wants. We should hope he doesn’t give an inch. Schumer is a man devoid of honor, integrity, and manliness. Any concession McConnell makes is going to be viewed as a sign of weakness and will be met by louder demands for even more extensive concessions. McConnell should just lay down the marker here and now and be done with it.