Trump biographer explains how president uses fear to scare Republicans away from witnesses

Michael D'Antonio, one of President Donald Trump's biographers, explained Sunday that the president knows very well how to use fear to intimidate people. That's what he's doing in the case of impeachment to help score an acquittal.

Citing Bob Woodward's book Fear, D'Antonio explained that Trump uses fear to his benefit.

"He called it fear because Donald Trump knows how to use fear, he knows how to intimidate people, and he'll go further than almost anyone else will go," said D'Antonio. "And he's proven that he can adjust the calculus for everyone in the united states senate. So, they're all thinking, 'Do I cross this man? Will I have a primary challenge? What is the real endpoint for me if I decide to vote my conscience instead of being loyal?' The president has surpassed all of our expectations."

Last week, CBS News cited a confidant of Trump's who said that that if any Republicans cross the president, their "heads will be on a pike." When Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) repeated the report, Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) flipped out, saying it was a lie and that the entire case outlined by the House managers was thus invalid.

"That's where he lost me," Murkowski claimed.

The senators were mocked online and on cable news, for using it as an excuse to acquit to dismiss the prosecution's case.

In a recent piece for the New York Daily News, D'Antonio wrote that things like witnesses and documents prove

"The solid wall of Republican opposition to the call for the trial to hear witnesses and view documents tells us that craven loyalty — what might be called The Trump Way of politics — is winning," he said.

"The president has figured out that you only need about 40 percent of the public to be rabidly in favor of you to have a good chance at election, that the rest of the vote is splintered and there may be many disaffected people in the rest of the electorate," he said on CNN. "So people are afraid of losing their position. They want to win themselves come November, but they're also looking forward to family members who might want to enter the political game."

He specifically cited the Bush family, who has been "very quiet." He said that it's because there are younger members of the family who want to enter GOP politics.

Watch the full discussion below: