Trump's efforts to have Ukraine investigate the Bidens were central to the impeachment charges he faced. Romney was the only Republican who voted to convict.
Trump, on a high after his acquittal last week on impeachment charges, launched an assault on the Democrats who tried to remove him from office, calling the episode a "pathetic partisan crusade."
Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, the most endangered Democrat in this November's elections, said Wednesday that he will vote to convict President Donald Trump as the Senate impeachment trial reaches its climax.
McConnell said the two impeachment charges against Trump -- that he abused his power and obstructed Congress' ensuing investigation -- are "constitutionally incoherent" and don't "even approach a case for the first presidential removal in American history."
The "question is not whether the president's conduct warrants his removal from office but whether our nation is better served by his removal by the Senate now with impeachment or by the decision that voters will make in November," the West Virginia senator said.
President Donald Trump will deliver his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, Feb. 4 in the U.S. House of Representatives--a day before he is expected to be acquitted in the Senate impeachment trial and a day after the Iowa caucuses provide the first results in the Democratic presidential race.
New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week's political news, including the Senate's decision not to call witnesses in President Trump's impeachment trial, Republicans' varying defenses of Trump's conduct around Ukraine and what recent polling trends among 2020 Democrats suggest about Monday's Iowa caucuses.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has been present for the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump and heard Trump's legal team offer its defense of the charges against him. She is also a 2020 Democratic candidate for president. Warren joins Judy Woodruff to discuss why she views Trump's actions as akin to bribery and what it means to miss the last few campaign days before the Iowa caucuses.
As Iowa's Democratic caucuses approach, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' message seems to be resonating with voters, though he still faces concerns he is too liberal to defeat President Trump. Along with Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, he dashed to Iowa to campaign during a break from Trump's impeachment trial. Also there was Pete Buttigieg, who touted his electability. John Yang reports.
NPR's Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report join Judy Woodruff to discuss the latest political news, including whether enough Senate Republicans will vote to hear witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Trump and how 2020 presidential candidates are polling and campaigning in Iowa as its Democratic caucuses approach.