Senate Republicans Block Witnesses In Trump’s Impeachment Trial
The trial of President Donald Trump is now the first U.S. impeachment trial to feature no witnesses.
Month: January 2020
Impeachment trial/Republican cover-up reaches key decision point: Live coverage #4
After a day of procedural debate and voting, six days of opening arguments, and two days of question and answer, the impeachment trial of Donald Trump could conclude Friday with debate followed by Republicans voting to end the trial and cover up Trump’s abuses of power. But Democrats will be keeping up the fight for a fair trial.
Friday, Jan 31, 2020 · 10:39:04 PM +00:00 · Mark SumnerSurprise, they’re back and voting. After a “quorum call” lasting over an hour, McConnell returned to call the vote on witnesses, and then the Senate is going “back into recess” for an unspecified time.
Friday, Jan 31, 2020 · 10:41:48 PM +00:00 · Mark SumnerIt’s not clear that Schumer and McConnell worked out anything in advance of this vote. So the recess might be for purposes of continuing to hammer out a deal, or we may be done or the day. It’s clear as mud.
Friday, Jan 31, 2020 · 10:44:21 PM +00:00 · Mark SumnerAs expected, Republicans vote down all witnesses, for the first time in the history of impeachment, 49-51. Susan Collins got her hall pass to pretend she’s fair.
Friday, Jan 31, 2020 · 10:46:57 PM +00:00 · Mark SumnerChuck Schumer calls this a day that America will remember. A “tragedy on a very large scale.”
No information on what happens next.
Friday, Jan 31, 2020 · 10:48:07 PM +00:00 · Mark SumnerLook, it’s our old friend the Fascism Watch. Fascism Watch, what time is it?
Friday, Jan 31, 2020 · 11:06:07 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner xThe 49 Senators who voted to call witnesses represent 170 million AmericansThe 51 Senators who blocked witnesses represent 151 million Americans In the US Senate the majority doesn’t ruleThank you @imillhiser for doing the math https://t.co/imL6WiP2FM
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) January 31, 2020
McConnell statement: "Senators will now confer among ourselves, with the House Managers, and with the President’s counsel to determine next steps as we prepare to conclude the trial in the ***coming days.***" (emphasis added)
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) January 31, 2020
This statement makes it seem like the Republicans who want it all in the can tonight might not be getting their way. And there’s absolutely no reason Schumer should give it to them.
Again, if Democrats can make Republicans vote on endless amendments, let’s see amendments to censure Trump. Let’s see amendments to censure Mulvaney for his role in violating the Impoundment Control Act. Let’s see amendments to censure Cipollone for hiding his connection to the case. Let’s see a “sense of the Senate” call that Giuliani be disbarred.
There is not a single reason to give them an inch on this.
Friday, Jan 31, 2020 · 11:11:21 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner xFriday, Jan 31, 2020 · 11:12:57 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner xRepublican Senator says emerging view is that the Senate will take a handful of amendment votes tonight break for weekend and come back Monday. Nothing final until it’s final, obviously
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) January 31, 2020
Friday, Jan 31, 2020 · 11:24:56 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner xFind clarity: it was always Senate Republicans on trial.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 31, 2020
Friday, Jan 31, 2020 · 11:30:38 PM +00:00 · Mark SumnerNew: GOP senators leave meeting and say there’s a deal for acquittal vote Wednesday
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 31, 2020
So, this is the apparent deal.
The Senate will return to session at 7 PM. Votes on Friday evening will be limited to 4 or 5 proposed amendments from Democratic senators. (no idea what they will be) McConnell will not hold debate or vote on acquittal tonight. On Monday, both legal teams will give closing arguments, and some senators will give Senate floor speeches. Still no vote. On Wednesday, senators will complete floor speeches and McConnell will call a vote on the articles in the afternoon. Friday, Jan 31, 2020 · 11:31:08 PM +00:00 · Mark SumnerThat is not official yet, but something similar has come from multiple sources.
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Lev Parnas pours gasoline on McConnell’s fire, detailing gigantic conspiracy he could testify to
Indicted Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas has already publicly documented how deeply enmeshed he was in Donald Trump's world and now, in a letter sent by his lawyer to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Friday, he is outlining exactly what he would testify to if given the opportunity. Spoiler alert: It would be absolutely disastrous for Trump.
If allowed to testify, the letter asserts that Parnas would detail Trump's entire Ukraine conspiracy front to back, with receipts, while implicating multiple high-level Trump officials in the process. "If Lev Parnas was called as a witness, he would provide testimony based upon personal knowledge, corroborated by physical evidence including text messages, phone records, documentary evidence, and travel records, which is directly relevant to the President's impeachment inquiry," writes Parnas attorney Joseph Bondy.
Bondy says Parnas will reveal the "genesis" of the relationship between Trump and Rudy Giuliani along with all the GOP operatives who assisted in the effort to remove Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and gather "dirt" on the Bidens.
"Those holding various roles in the plot included GOP Super PAC America First, President Trump, Vice President Pence, former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General Bill Barr, Senator Lindsey Graham, Congressman Devin Nunes, Nunes's Staffer Derek Harvey, Journalist John Solomon, Attorneys Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing, Mr. Giuliani, and others," Bondy writes. Yowzer. That's quite a list. Sen. Graham, eh? That would sure explain a lot.
Bondy promises that Parnas will illuminate the "thousands of micro-steps" he took to lay the groundwork for the plan, including multiple trips to Ukraine in order to meet with top Ukrainian officials and "directly convey the President's 'quid pro quo.'"
In short, Parnas is offering to give congressional investigators a treasure trove of information. Sure, Parnas comes to the table with a tarnished reputation. But he has the exact profile of a witness that prosecutors use to build criminal cases all the time. Even better, he appears to have documented nearly everything and has somehow managed to finally get control of all his materials and evidence.
As former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance tweeted, "If his testimony is corroborated by John Bolton, something that his lawyer’s letter suggests but that we won’t know for certain unless they both testify, then Trump is in deep trouble, even if the Senate whitewashes this."
Senator Hirono: Trump ‘Believes He Is King Now’ — ‘I Think Our Country Is in Great Danger’
In the wake of Sen. Lamar Alexander announcing that he would not vote to allow witnesses in President Donald Trump’s ongoing senate impeachment trial, his fellow Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii criticized the direction of the trial, which looks likely to end in an acquittal.
Appearing on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Hirono said that Trump seems to think he is “king” as a result of the trial’s looming outcome.
RELATED: Democrats Show Frustration at Losing to Trump, Again
"What they really are afraid of is that this president, unfettered without a conviction, means that he's going to be doing a lot more stuff that will subject him to impeachment, because that's what this guy is. He believes he's king now." – Sen. Hirono https://t.co/9b6RrjgFCM
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 31, 2020
Hirono Claims Trump Will Face Impeachment as ‘Every Turn’
“[T]his is the last response for these two days of questions and answers that I got from the president’s team, and that is, ‘Let’s just assume he did it. So what?’” Hirono said. “And I’ve been saying for a long time that’s probably what they’re going to end up with — you can say all of these things, but so what? The ‘so what’ means that this president, who believes that he can do anything he wants under Article 2 of the Constitution, will continue to go forward.”
“And I tell you, what the Trump team said, ‘Oh well you’re going to impeach him and convict him for what he did,’ that means this president is going to be facing impeachment at every turn,” Hirono continued.
‘I think our country is in great danger’
“What they really are afraid of is this president unfettered without a conviction means that he’s going to be doing a lot more stuff that will subject him to impeachment because that is what this guy is. He believes he is king now,” she added.
“I think our country is in great danger,” Hirono finished.
Senator Mazie Hirono on the Trump #ImpeachmentTrials, “He did it!” Later to @Maddow she says of Trump: “He thinks he’s is king now. I think our country is in great danger.” #Maddow pic.twitter.com/L0zlSLsnFv
— Nick Walden Poublon (@NWPinPDX) January 31, 2020
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The Democrats are Dangerous – Not Trump
This is comical. Does Hirono not think their lengthy and ridiculous impeachment push has taken everyone’s focus off of important policy issues–to the detriment of the country?
Couldn’t that be considered “dangerous?”
And while Hirono and other Democrats think Trump behaves like a king, they have busily invested everything they have into overturning the 2016 election.
Guess what other kind of figure might seek to undo the will of the people. Kings. Tyrants. Dictators.
All the things Dems continue to accuse Trump of being.
So before another Democrat accuses Donald Trump of being a “king” or having a heavy hand, they might want to look in the mirror.
The post Senator Hirono: Trump ‘Believes He Is King Now’ — ‘I Think Our Country Is in Great Danger’ appeared first on The Political Insider.
Schiff calls out Trump lawyer Cipollone after Bolton places him 'in the loop' on Ukraine
Parnas lists explosive evidence about Trump he'd share as an impeachment witness
