Month: January 2021

Schumer agrees to two-week delay of Trump’s impeachment trial

Posted on (Updated by By Marianne LeVine and Sarah Ferris

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed Friday night to a two-week delay of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, allowing the chamber to focus on confirming President Joe Biden's Cabinet and coronavirus relief.

Under the timeline outlined by Schumer, the House will deliver the article of impeachment Monday evening, senators will be sworn-in Tuesday and the trial will officially begin the week of February 8. The framework for the trial comes after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also called for a two-week delay in order to give Trump time to plan his legal defense.

"The January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, incited by Donald J. Trump was a day none of us will ever forget," Schumer said Friday. "We all want to put this awful chapter in our nation’s history behind us. But healing and unity will only come if there is truth and accountability. And that is what this trial will provide."

Doug Andres, a spokesperson for McConnell, said the GOP leader is "glad that Leader Schumer agreed to Republicans’ request for additional time during the pre-trial phase," calling it "a win for due process and fairness.”

The House managers and Trump’s legal team will spend the next two weeks drafting their legal briefs. Under the trial schedule, the president's team will have until February 2 to answer the article and House managers will submit their pre-trial brief the same day. Trump's pre-trial brief will then be due February 8 and the House will have until February 9 for their rebuttal, which will allow for the trial to officially begin.

Earlier Friday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismissed concerns by Republicans that Trump’s legal team wouldn’t have adequate time if the trial started next week after the impeachment article is delivered to the Senate.

“The former president will have had the same amount of time to prepare for trial as our Managers,” Pelosi said, referring to her hand-picked team of House Democrats who will essentially serve as prosecutors in the Senate trial.

"The House has been respectful of the Senate’s constitutional power over the trial and always attentive to the fairness of the process," Pelosi later added in a letter sent to her members, noting that Monday would be a "momentous and solemn day."

President Joe Biden, who has largely left the process up to Congress, did not object to a slightly delayed impeachment trial, when asked by reporters if he supported a February timeline.

"The more time we have to get up and running to meet these crises, the better," Biden told reporters Friday afternoon.

The exact length of the Senate’s unprecedented second impeachment trial is still unclear, though lawmakers of both parties say they expect it to take up less time than the three weeks spent on Trump’s first trial in early 2020. Whether the Senate also brings in witnesses is another open question.

Prior to the agreement, many GOP senators warned the trial would disrupt the Senate’s jam-packed schedule confirming Biden’s nominees and potentially moving to an additional Covid-19 relief package.

“Absent some agreement, we won't be doing any confirmations, we won't be doing any Covid-19 relief, we won't be doing anything else other than impeaching the person who's not even president,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters Friday.

“I think what McConnell laid down was eminently reasonable, in terms of making sure that we got [due] process,” added Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a moderate who could be a critical vote in Trump’s trial. “The process has to be fair. So yeah, so we gotta get started, I guess."

During the trial, a team of Democratic House impeachment managers are expected to spend several days arguing that the former president played a major role in inciting violence at the Capitol, focusing on a speech he delivered to a pro-Trump rally just hours before rioters breached the complex.

Trump this week began to prepare his defense, hiring attorney Butch Bowers — who has represented several high-profile Republicans in ethics cases — to lead his team.

While Democrats are expected to vote to convict Trump, it’s unclear how many Senate Republicans will join them. Seventeen Republicans will need to join all Democrats in order to convict Trump.

Several GOP senators argue Democrats are stoking further division and are coalescing around the argument that it’s legally dubious to convict a private citizen.

“I think you're opening up Pandora's box, anything they can do, we can do,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally. “You engage in post-presidential impeachment — you're going to destroy the presidency over time.”

But not everyone is on board with that argument, including scholars from the conservative Federalist Society. And Democrats have argued that Trump — or any president — should be held accountable for his behavior while in office, even if it’s in the final days or weeks of a term.

“It makes no sense whatsoever that a president or any official could commit a heinous crime against our country and then be permitted to resign so as to avoid accountability and a vote to disbar them from future office,” Schumer said Friday.

Andrew Desiderio contributed to this report.

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Democrats Scramble to Save Face After National Guard ‘Banished’ To Parking Garage Following Biden Inauguration

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Several lawmakers expressed outrage following a report that National Guard troops had been “banished” to a parking garage after serving to defend against potential threats at the inauguration of President Biden.

Politico reported Thursday night that U.S. Capitol Police officials had the Guard troops removed from the facilities “sending them outdoors or to nearby parking garages after two weeks pulling security duty” following the Capitol riots in early January.

The report notes that outdoor temperatures in the area fell into the 40s, while conditions inside the parking garage for one unit of 5,000 consisted of just one electrical outlet and one bathroom.

One Guardsman conveyed his feelings about the situation to Politico.

“Yesterday dozens of senators and congressmen walked down our lines taking photos, shaking our hands and thanking us for our service,” he said.

“Within 24 hours, they had no further use for us and banished us to the corner of a parking garage,” the Guardsman added. “We feel incredibly betrayed.”

RELATED: 12 National Guardsmen Removed From Biden Inauguration For Alleged Ties To Right-Wing Groups

National Guard Troops Banished to Garage Following Biden Inauguration

A CNN report shortly thereafter indicated the National Guard troops had been “banished” to the garage but were “allowed back into the Capitol Complex” following an outcry from lawmakers.

The initial move to force them into a garage reflected poorly on Democrats considering the troops were used to help defend the inauguration of one of their own party members.

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), an Iraq war veteran, tweeted, “Just made a number of calls and have been informed Capitol Police have apologized to the Guardsmen and they will be allowed back into the complex tonight. I’ll keep checking to make sure they are.”

Her Senate colleague Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) also took to Twitter writing, “This is outrageous, shameful, and incredibly disrespectful to the men and women keeping the U.S. Capitol safe and secure. We need it fixed and we need answers on how it happened.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who typically despises law and order, chimed in.

Even Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) gave out his office location and offered it to accommodate the National Guard troops, a service he normally reserves for Chinese spies – allegedly.

RELATED: Nancy Pelosi Suggests Trump Could Be Charged As Accessory To Murder For Capitol Riots

Props for a Photo-Op

The Democrat outrage was necessary because the optics of having the National Guard protect a Democrat president and then be summarily dismissed to a garage is outrageous.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), upon hearing the reports, called out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

“Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer—why are American troops who are tasked with keeping security at the Capitol being forced to sleep in a parking lot?” he asked. “They deserve to be treated with respect, and we deserve answers.”

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) brought the troops pizza and offered to let them sleep in his office as well.

“Our troops deserve better,” he tweeted.

There is no evidence that Pelosi, Schumer, or any other Democrat had any role in placing the National Guard troops in a parking garage. In fact, that would seem to fall on the shoulders of the Capitol police.

Still, it’s difficult to view the Guard’s treatment as further evidence that Democrats used them – either for a photo op for President Biden following overblown reports of a threat at the Capitol, or worse, simply as a means to prevent a pro-Trump rally from breaking out at his inauguration.

It wasn’t that long ago that the left ridiculed former President Trump for using National Guard troops to protect the southern border from actual threats to our nation, belittling them as props.

Now they’ve been used as props because a man so popular that he received 81 million votes in the presidential election had to be protected from the American people.

When their purpose had been served, our troops were quickly cast aside … until photos started leaking about what had happened.

The post Democrats Scramble to Save Face After National Guard ‘Banished’ To Parking Garage Following Biden Inauguration appeared first on The Political Insider.

Senators weigh starting Trump impeachment trial in February

Posted on by Politics - CBSNews.com
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has proposed delaying the start of the impeachment trial against former President Trump until February, arguing it would allow both House impeachment managers and Mr. Trump's legal team time to prepare. Senate Democrats are considering the proposal, which would allow them time to continue processing President Biden's Cabinet nominees. Nikole Killion reports.
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