Impeachment trial live updates: Final verdict could be delayed to next week, after Iowa caucuses and Trump’s State of the Union, officials say
Trump faces charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The crux of the case for his impeachment is the allegation that he withheld military aid and a White House meeting to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son. Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, while his father was vice president.
●Senate appears ready to reject witnesses in Trump impeachment trial.
●Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) calls Trump’s actions ‘inappropriate’ but rejects witnesses in impeachment trial
●A president ‘is not above the law,’ Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz asserts in rebutting criticism of his impeachment defense.
The Senate impeachment trial process | The impeachment managers |Which senators support removing Trump | Trump’s legal team brief | House Democrats’ response
Sen. Alexander elaborates on distinction between ‘inappropriate’ and removable conduct
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) elaborated Friday on his conclusion that Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine was “inappropriate” but not grounds for removal from office.
“It seemed to me that the president did it, he did what he was accused of,” Alexander said. “There’s a difference between inappropriate conduct, which that clearly is, and treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors. ... I think there’s a big gap between this conduct and impeachable conduct.”
Alexander also said the upcoming election factored into his thinking.
“I had not focused on the fact we were being asked not only to remove the president from office, but to tell people they couldn’t vote for him in 2020,” he said. “And when I talked to my colleagues, most of them hadn’t thought about that either. … So we’re tearing up the ballots and telling people basically, as an election is starting, you can’t vote for or against President Trump. I think I hadn’t thought about that … extraordinary action.”
Schumer says every senator should have time to speak on their vote
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), flanked by three other Democratic senators, told reporters that he would push to give every senator a chance to speak on the floor before they vote on a verdict, possibly extending the trial for days.
“I believe the American people should hear what every senator thinks and why they’re voting the way they’re voting,” Schumer said.
The senators stressed the Democrats’ latest talking point that the results won’t count because it wasn’t “a fair trial.”
“The bottom line is that at the end of this, they will probably get what they want, which is we’re going to end this today or maybe tomorrow, but the evidence we know is available will not have been presented,” said Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.). “This will not have been a fair trial, and therefore they cannot walk out and say there has been a true acquittal.”
Schumer made the point this way: “If my colleagues refuse to even consider witnesses and documents in this trial, this country is headed towards the greatest coverup since Watergate.”
Trial could extend into next week, officials say
While many Republicans have expressed hopes that the expected failure of a vote to call new witnesses would mean a rapid end to Trump’s impeachment trial, officials are warning that might not be the case.
A longer schedule could mean the trial stretches beyond Monday’s Iowa caucuses, further complicating the campaign schedules of the four senators seeking the Democratic nomination who are sitting as jurors.
A senior administration official and two congressional officials said Friday that it was unlikely that senators would rush immediately to a verdict if the witness vote fails. They requested anonymity to speak candidly about internal discussions.
The administration official and a congressional official raised the possibility that the Senate could take up a new procedural resolution laying out rules for the trial’s endgame — which could include time for closing arguments, private deliberations and public speeches by senators.
The Senate passed such a supplemental resolution in the middle of the 1999 impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.
Even passing that resolution could be a lengthy process: When senators debated the initial rules resolution last week, it took more than 12 hours of floor time to process debate on Democratic amendments to the GOP proposal, which ultimately passed unamended just before 2 a.m. on Jan. 22.
Should the Senate embark on this process, the senior administration official said, a final verdict could be delayed as late as Wednesday — after the Iowa caucuses on Monday and Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.
But a congressional official noted that much depends on what a majority of senators want to do: A 51-vote majority could choose to hasten the final verdict at any point.
Trump is ‘a clear and present danger,’ Pelosi says in new talking points
With the end of Trump’s Senate trial appearing to be near, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is continuing to encourage allies to press the case against him.
“Talking points” distributed by her office on Friday label Trump “a clear and present danger to our democracy and national security interests” and say he “put himself before country and must be held accountable.”
The talking points also argue that Trump has “established a pattern of corruptly soliciting foreign interference into our elections to benefit his reelection.”
“Congress must act with a sense of urgency to protect the integrity of the 2020 elections and defend our Constitution,” Pelosi encourages her allies to argue.
Sen. Durbin concedes GOP is ‘going to prevail’ on witness vote
Senate Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said Friday that Republicans appeared to have secured the votes necessary to block witnesses and end the impeachment trial.
“The American people were waiting to hear the facts; they’re not going to get that chance,” Durbin, the top Democratic vote-counter, said in an interview. “That is the designed strategy of [Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell], and it appears now he’s going to prevail.”
Durbin said he was “disappointed, but not really surprised” by the decision of Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to vote against calling witnesses.
“I was certainly hoping he would have a Howard Baker moment, you know, but it appears he will not,” Durbin said, referring to the Tennessee Republican senator who played a key role in ending Richard Nixon’s presidency during Watergate.
Durbin said Democrats are now discussing how to handle the endgame if the vote to call witnesses fails as expected later Friday.
“When it gets right down to it, we’ve got to decide what we can do today — there’s a limited opportunity for us,” he said. “I know that Senator McConnell, he’s going to race to the finish line now that he sees victory from his point of view. So I don’t think he’s going to make it easy for us to spend any time debating.”
One factor that was not under consideration, Durbin insisted, is the fact that four Democratic senators are running in the Iowa presidential caucuses on Monday.
“Listen, I can tell you honestly, that has … never come up,” he said. “And it shouldn’t.”
‘It’s time to move on,’ Republican senators say
Three hours before senators were scheduled to hear arguments on calling witnesses, Senate Republicans tweeted: “It’s time to move on. It’s time to get back to work for the American people.”
An accompanying video included several GOP senators alleging that Democrats are trying to extend the trial to impact this year’s elections.
The tweet contended that the Senate has conducted “a transparent, impartial, and FAIR trial.”
Trump shares video of Jonathan Turley’s House testimony
Trump returned to Twitter on Friday to share a video of some of the testimony of Jonathan Turley during House impeachment proceedings. Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, appeared at the House proceedings at the invitation of Republicans.
“I am concerned about lowering impeachment standards to fit a paucity of evidence and an abundance of anger,” Turley said in the clip from his House testimony. “I believe this impeachment not only fails to satisfy the standard of past impeachments but would create a dangerous precedent for future impeachments.”
Since then, Turley has been critical of Trump’s lawyers in the Senate trial, saying they are incorrect in their argument that a crime must have occurred for a president to be impeached.
Sen. Blumenthal says he thinks it’s unlikely Roberts would break a tie on witnesses
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said Friday that he thinks it’s unlikely that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. would break a tie vote over calling witnesses.
Democrats have been urging Roberts to weigh in to break a tie if three GOP senators side with Democrats on the effort, producing an evenly split chamber.
Blumenthal said he would welcome a deciding vote by Roberts in favor of hearing witnesses. But, he added, “I think the likelihood is he will let a tie vote stand if there is one.”
If the vote is tied, no witnesses will be called.
Tester says Trump could go ‘off the rails’ in soliciting future foreign interference
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) voiced concerns Friday that an acquittal of Trump could open the door to more solicitation of foreign interference in U.S. elections.
“I think there’s a real possibility he goes off the rails on this stuff and really does go after foreign interference in our elections in a very bold way,” Tester said during a CNN interview in which he argued that Trump should be “held accountable.”
Tester also acknowledged that holding Trump to account appears unlikely at this point.
“It isn’t over until it’s over, but the writing appears to be on the wall,” Tester said.
Tester declined to say how he would vote on a motion to acquit Trump, but added: “You have a president that’s asking a foreign power to do an investigation. That’s serious business, and if that’s not impeachable, I don’t know what is.”
Rep. Tlaib urges Sen. Murkowski to ‘do your job’
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who famously on her first day in office called in profane terms for Trump to be impeached, urged Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Friday to “do your job” and vote to call witnesses in the Senate trial.
“Read the transcript of the call and the testimony of those who testified before the House Intelligence Committee,” Tlaib tweeted. “Your notes aren’t enough. Do your job!”
Late Thursday night, Murkowski was noncommittal, telling reporters: “I am going to go reflect on what I have heard, reread my notes and decide whether I need to hear more.”
Jeffries says ‘it’s disappointing’ that Sen. Alexander won’t support calling witnesses
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), one of the House impeachment managers, said Friday that “it’s disappointing” that Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) has decided to vote against hearing from witnesses.
Late Thursday, Alexander — who had been viewed as a possible vote for witnesses — said he would oppose the Democratic-led effort while acknowledging that it was “inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation.”
Jeffries said Alexander apparently agreed that the House had presented an “overwhelming case.”
“If you come to that conclusion that Donald Trump tried to cheat, he got caught and then of course he worked hard to cover it up, he should be held accountable, and the Constitution indicates that accountability means conviction and removal,” Jeffries said on CNN.
Asked what the House managers could have done differently, Jeffries replied, “I don’t want to play Monday morning quarterback because it’s not Monday morning yet.”
He said the managers are still trying to persuade additional senators to support hearing evidence.
Monica Lewinsky weighs in with some levity on allowing witnesses
Anti-bullying activist Monica Lewinsky, who knows a thing or two about impeachment trials, offered this commentary on the Senate’s likely decision not to allow new witnesses:
“gee,” she tweeted, “too bad i had to give that videoed witness testimony for the senate trial in the clinton impeachment. (i mean, talk about unflattering lighting and having a bad hair day.)”
Lewinsky found herself thrust in the middle of a bitter impeachment fight 20 years ago over whether to remove President Bill Clinton from office for lying under oath about his affair with her when she was a 20-year-old White House intern.
Lewinsky, the subject of brutal public shaming, has opened up in recent years about that painful experience. With society increasingly more compassionate toward women’s experiences, she has also endeared herself to the American public through her candid, and often funny, social media presence.
Romney will vote to hear witnesses, aide says
An aide to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said that he will vote later Friday for a motion to hear from witnesses in the Senate trial.
For days, Romney has said publicly that he would like to hear in particular from Bolton, who reportedly says in a new book manuscript that Trump directly tied military assistance to Ukraine to investigations of the Bidens.
The Romney aide spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Democrats have been trying to court at least four Republicans to vote to hear more evidence. Even with Romney on board, they still appear to be short of their target.
Trump to address human trafficking summit, head to Florida
Trump is scheduled to address a human trafficking summit at the White House on Friday shortly before the Senate trial reconvenes, then depart hours later for his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as senators debate whether the trial should include witnesses.
At the summit, which marks the 20th anniversary of landmark legislation intended to protect human trafficking victims, Trump is expected to announce several measures, including the expansion of the White House domestic policy office to include a staff member focused exclusively on combating human trafficking. Trump is scheduled to speak at 12:15 p.m.
According to the White House, he plans to head to Palm Beach at 4 p.m. Trump often stops to talk to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn.
Pompeo visits Zelensky in Kyiv, vows U.S. support for Ukraine ‘will not waver’
“Today I’m here with a clear message: The United States sees that the Ukrainian struggle for freedom, democracy and prosperity is a valiant one,” he said. “Our commitment to support it will not waver.”
The message from Pompeo came as the Senate continued its impeachment trial of Trump on the basis that the president conditioned U.S. military and diplomatic support for Ukraine on an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden.
Pompeo, in his most direct remarks since the allegations emerged last fall, denied that the Trump administration set such an investigation as a condition for a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But he could not offer a date when the two countries would arrange an Oval Office sit-down between Trump and Zelensky.
Read more here.
Four hours of debate scheduled on whether to call witnesses
The Senate is set to reconvene around 1 p.m., after which four hours of debate are scheduled on the question of whether to hear new evidence, including witnesses, in the trial of Trump. A vote is expected after 5 p.m.
For the motion to succeed, Democrats would need four Republicans to side with them on their effort to hear from Bolton and other officials who declined to participate in the House proceedings that led to Trump’s impeachment. Democrats are also seeking to admit new documents that would shed additional light on Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine.
Senate Republicans are increasingly confident that no new testimony will be heard and that they can begin a sprint toward Trump’s acquittal, with a vote coming as early as Friday night.
Leading Democrats have acknowledged that there is little they can do to slow the process if Republicans continue to rally around Trump.
Uncertainty remains surrounding possible tie vote on witnesses
Uncertainty remains surrounding what could happen if there is a 50-50 tie on the motion to hear more evidence — an entirely possible scenario when the vote occurs.
Democrats have been urging Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to weigh in to break a tie if three GOP senators side with Democrats on the effort, producing an evenly split chamber. But it’s unclear that Roberts would insert himself into a politically thorny situation. The Constitution does not explicitly say what he should do.
If Roberts takes no action, the motion fails.
Republicans expect Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) to join Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) to vote to hear more evidence, and they are closely watching Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), who pushed through a swarm of reporters around 11 p.m. Thursday, vowing to return to her office, “put some eye drops in” and “keep reading” to make a decision.
Late Thursday, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) — who had been viewed as a possible vote for witnesses — said he will oppose the Democratic-led effort while acknowledging that it was “inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation.”
Trump campaign seizes on awkward moment between Schiff and Nadler
The Trump campaign seized on an awkward moment late Wednesday between Reps. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.).
After Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. read a question from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asking House managers for any additional thoughts before the trial adjourned for the night, Nadler got up and headed to the lectern.
Schiff appeared to try to cut him off, rising to his feet and calling, “Jerry, Jerry, Jerry,” though Nadler proceeded to deliver remarks.
In a late-night tweet, the Trump campaign shared a video clip of the moment set to the theme song of the movie “Chariots of Fire.”
“Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff … Two impeachment fanatics chasing dreams of glory,” the tweet said.
Impeachment: What you need to read
Here’s what you need to know to understand the impeachment trial of President Trump.
What’s happening now: Senators are scheduled to hear four hours of debate Friday on calling witnesses to testify in Trump’s impeachment trial. Follow live coverage here.
What happens next: The vote on witnesses could happen as early as tonight. Here’s more on what happens next.
How we got here: A whistleblower complaint led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to announce the beginning of an official impeachment inquiry on Sept. 24. Closed-door hearings and subpoenaed documents related to the president’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky followed. After two weeks of public hearings in November, the House Intelligence Committee wrote a report that was sent to the House Judiciary Committee, which held its own hearings. Pelosi and House Democrats announced the articles of impeachment against Trump on Dec. 10. The Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. When the full House of Representatives adopted both articles of impeachment against him on Dec. 18, Trump became the third U.S. president to be impeached. The impeachment trial began on Jan. 16. Trump’s legal team and House impeachment managers have presented their cases under the ground rules adopted by the Senate.
Stay informed: Read the latest reporting and analysis on impeachment here.
Listen: Follow The Washington Post’s coverage with daily updates from across our podcasts.
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