MSNBC’s Chris Hayes knocks senators for ducking out of impeachment trial: ‘You can resign’

MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes blasted senators who reportedly fell asleep during the opening of President Trump’s impeachment trial or left early, saying lawmakers can listen to arguments or “resign tomorrow.”

Hayes contrasted senators who are in the Senate chamber for the duration of the trial with citizens who regularly serve on juries, noting that many often have to take time off work to complete the responsibility.

“If the trial goes for a long time, often [jurors] don’t collect their paycheck from that and are given a meager amount of money relative to what some of those people might make,” Hayes said on the air Wednesday evening. “This is literally [senators’] job. If you find it too annoying or frustrating or uncomfortable to sit for eight hours and listen, you can resign tomorrow and go get another job.”

“It’s a terrible look to the public to the extent that the news reports are getting out,” MSNBC legal analyst Maya Wiley said during the segment. “These are people who are supposed to be listening, hearing and then making a decision on what’s being presented all day long. We’ve also heard a lot of people have made up their minds already and are not actually taking their oath seriously.”

Hayes reiterated the point on Twitter, assailing “the sheer entitled whininess on display here.”

The sheer entitled whininess on display here. We ask every citizen to serve on juries! And this is literally your job, to just show up and listen. I’m so sorry this is so hard for you. Go get another gig. https://t.co/JbKnwnbjbv

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) January 23, 2020

Multiple senators have been seen sitting back in their chairs, with some seen closing their eyes, including Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who had a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing earlier in the day Wednesday.

The Associated Press reported that Warner leaned on his arm and covered his eyes at one point Wednesday while other senators laughed in response to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) saying he only intended to speak for 10 minutes.

“It’s true that some of the senators have from time to time nodded off,” Risch told a CBS affiliate in Idaho on Wednesday. “But I don’t think I’m one; hope I’m not one.”

“It’s tough to sit there all that time, when it is warm and you’ve been sitting there a long time,” he added in the interview.