The crux of the Democrats’ case is the allegation that Trump tried to leverage a White House meeting and military aid, sought by Ukraine to combat Russian military aggression, to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, as well as a probe of an unfounded theory that Kyiv conspired with Democrats to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
●Pelosi says Trump is ‘impeached for life’ despite McConnell’s ‘gamesmanship,’ ‘coverup.’
●A pact with Trump on impeachment? McConnell’s Kentucky backers demand it.
●Showdown over Trump impeachment trial underscores power of Pelosi and McConnell.
Which senators support removing Trump | Which House members voted to impeach Trump | House resolution impeaching Trump | Other key documents
Sen. Paul says he supports calling both GOP and Democratic witnesses
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Monday night that he backs calling both Republican and Democratic witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial.
“My colleagues can’t have it both ways,” Paul said in a tweet. “Calling for some, while blocking others. If we are going to give a platform to witnesses the Dems demand, I look forward to forcing votes to call Hunter Biden and many more!”
Top Senate Republicans reject Trump’s renewed call for immediate dismissal of impeachment charges
Top Senate Republicans on Monday rejected Trump’s call for outright dismissal of the impeachment charges against him, but they continued to grapple with the shape of the Senate trial, which could begin as soon as this week.
Most Senate Republicans are eager to stage a trial that ends with Trump’s acquittal and vindication on charges that he abused the power of his office in his dealings with Ukraine and obstructed a subsequent investigation in the House.
But over the weekend, Trump urged the Senate simply to dismiss the charges against him — without hearing arguments from House prosecutors or his own legal team.
Read more here.
Trump arrives in New Orleans
Trump arrived Monday night at the Superdome in downtown New Orleans, where he and first lady Melania Trump are scheduled to attend the college football national championship game between Louisiana State University and Clemson University.
The president did not speak to reporters as he arrived.
Hoyer says impeachment managers will be appointed by end of week
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Monday that the House impeachment managers will likely be appointed by the end of the week.
“Do I have some ideas? Yes. But I’m not gonna share them. ... Do I know all the names? No,” Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters at the Capitol. He added: “By the end of the week, you’re gonna know.”
Hoyer also said he has spoken with some senators about the scheduling aspect of the Senate trial but declined to reveal the specifics of his conversations.
Pelosi effectively helped Biden, Buttigieg by withholding articles, Sen. Cornyn claims
A top Republican senator said Monday that Pelosi effectively boosted the chances of Democratic presidential contenders who are not members of the Senate — including Biden and former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg — by not sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate sooner.
In a floor speech, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) noted that the Iowa caucuses are just three weeks away, followed by the New Hampshire primary a week later.
“The longer Speaker Pelosi holds on to the articles of impeachment, the closer a trial gets to overlapping with those key dates,” Cornyn said. “Even a short two-week trial could mean literally dozens of events we won’t be able to go to.”
Cornyn mused that Biden, Buttigieg and other Democratic contenders who are not members of the Senate must be “glad the speaker sat on these articles for nearly four weeks.”
“Having your competitors stuck in Washington, literally in their seat, while you’re hitting the campaign trail? Well, that seems like a pretty good advantage to me,” he said.
Trump to hold Iowa rally Jan. 30
Trump will headline a “Keep America Great” rally in Des Moines on Jan. 30, his 2020 presidential campaign announced Monday.
The rally at Drake University will take place four days before the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses. It is also likely to occur as the Senate impeachment trial is underway.
“President Trump looks forward to celebrating the good news of the Trump economy and the vast accomplishments of his administration with the Hawkeye State,” Michael Glassner, chief operating officer of Trump’s 2020 campaign, said in a statement.
In floor speech, Sen. Harris says no president can disregard congressional oversight
Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) took to the Senate floor late Monday afternoon to deliver an impassioned call for senators to “seek the truth and not cover up facts,” arguing that “we must say with one voice that no president can disregard the legitimate oversight authority of the United States Congress.”
“Let us ensure that this trial is a search for truth and that we follow the facts where they lead and come to a verdict based on all of the available evidence,” said Harris, who last month ended her 2020 presidential bid. “Let us do our jobs and insist that we hear from Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton and anyone with firsthand knowledge of the president’s misconduct.”
She added: “And let us be clear: An order from this president to block evidence or witness testimony will itself be further evidence of his efforts to obstruct the United States Congress.”
‘History is not kind to parties that participate in coverups,’ Schumer says
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday continued to press McConnell to include key witnesses and documents in the Senate trial, taking issue with his Republican counterpart’s description of the Democratic requests as “political.”
“If seeking the truth is political, if doing our constitutional duty is political in the minds of our Republican colleagues, then the Republican Party is in trouble,” Schumer said. “History is not kind to political parties that fight to hide the truth. History is not kind to parties that participate in coverups.”
He also blasted Republicans for declining to detail their argument against witnesses, likening GOP senators to “a broken Magic 8 Ball that keeps saying, ‘Ask again later.’ ”
Two-thirds of Americans want Bolton to testify, new poll shows
Two-thirds of respondents in a new Quinnipiac University poll want to see former national security adviser John Bolton testify in a Senate impeachment trial, while 51 percent of those surveyed say they approve of last month’s House vote to impeach Trump.
The release of the poll comes as the Senate is poised to launch its historic trial of Trump, and as Bolton has signaled that he would be willing to testify.
Unsurprisingly, Democrats are most enthusiastic about the prospect of Bolton testifying, with 91 percent saying they would like for him to do so, compared with 71 percent of independents and 39 percent of Republicans.
Asked about Pelosi’s decision to withhold the articles of impeachment until she knew more about the contours of a Senate trial, 48 percent of those surveyed by Quinnipiac said they disapprove of the decision while 44 percent approve.
“While voters are divided on Speaker Pelosi’s decision to hold the articles of impeachment, two thirds want to see Bolton tell the Senate what he knows in the upcoming trial,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement.
The poll, which was conducted Jan. 8 through 12, surveyed 1,562 registered voters and has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.
McConnell accuses Pelosi of holding ‘one-woman blockade’ of impeachment trial
In remarks on the Senate floor Monday afternoon, McConnell accused Pelosi of having held a “one-woman blockade” of a Senate impeachment trial and said he was “glad the speaker finally realized she never had any leverage in the first place … and is giving in to bipartisan pressure to move forward.”
“In terms of influencing Senate procedure, this strange gambit has achieved absolutely nothing,” McConnell said, accusing Democrats of being “afraid of having the Senate judge the case they themselves voted on.”
McConnell also argued that by proceeding with the Senate trial, the chamber will “rise above short-term factional fever” as the founders intended.
“House Democrats have already done enough damage to precedent, to national unity, and to our institutions of government,” he said.
Trump was ‘too afraid’ to let aides testify, Pelosi says
Pelosi went on Twitter Monday afternoon to respond to Trump’s criticism of her, accusing the president of a coverup and of being “too afraid” to let members of his administration testify before Congress.
“In the Clinton impeachment process, 66 witnesses were allowed to testify including 3 in the Senate trial, and 90,000 pages of documents were turned over,” Pelosi said in a tweet. “Trump was too afraid to let any of his top aides testify & covered up every single document. The Senate must #EndTheCoverUp.”
Rubio holds open possibility that witnesses will be called
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) took to Twitter to push back against Democrats who have accused Republican senators of facilitating a coverup of Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine.
“Those claiming Senate GOP going to hold trial without witnesses is lying: We are using same rules used in Clinton trial,” Rubio tweeted.
In the 1999 trial of President Bill Clinton, no decision was made about calling witnesses until after both House impeachment managers and lawyers for the president had made opening statements.
“After initial phase Senate can hear additional witnesses if needed,” Rubio tweeted.
Grisham says Trump deserves dismissal of case because ‘he did nothing wrong’
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham on Monday reiterated Trump’s desire to have the impeachment case dismissed, saying “he did nothing wrong.”
“The president shouldn’t have to go through this,” Grisham said during an appearance on Fox News. “He did nothing wrong. He released transcripts willingly because he did nothing wrong. So he’s made that clear all along. Obviously he would want a dismissal of everything but at the end of the day if it does go to the Senate for a trial, he does want it to be fair, which is all he deserves.”
The rough transcripts Grisham referenced were of two phone calls last year with Zelensky. During one call, Trump pressed Zelensky for investigations that could benefit him politically at a time when military aid to Ukraine was being withheld.
Grisham also defended Trump’s sharing of a tweet that included a doctored photo with Pelosi and Schumer in traditional Islamic clothing and standing in front of an Iranian flag.
“I think the president is making clear that the Democrats have been parroting Iranian talking points and almost taking the side of terrorists and those who were out to kill the Americans,” she said. “I think the president was making the point that the Democrats seem to hate him so much that they’re willing to be on the side of countries and leadership of countries who want to kill Americans.”
Trump mocks Pelosi’s call for a ‘fair trial’ in the Senate
Trump returned to Twitter to mock Pelosi’s call for a “fair trial” in the Senate, arguing that the proceedings in the House had not been fair to him.
“‘We demand fairness’ shouts Pelosi and the Do Nothing Democrats, yet the Dems in the House wouldn’t let us have 1 witness, no lawyers or even ask questions,” Trump said in a tweet. “It was the most unfair witch-hunt in the history of Congress!”
Trump declined an offer to participate in the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment hearings, which would have allowed his attorneys to suggest witnesses and ask questions of witnesses called by Democrats.
Schumer renews call for Republicans to end ‘coverup’
Schumer seized Monday on a Trump retweet depicting him and Pelosi in traditional Islamic clothing and standing in front of an Iranian flag to renew his call to Republicans to end their “coverup” on Trump’s behalf.
“President Trump: How low can you go?” Schumer tweeted. “Republicans: How long can you cover up for and defend the president’s actions?”
Schumer attached a news account of Trump sharing the tweet, which included the doctored photo and said, “The corrupted Dems trying their best to come to the Ayatollah’s rescue.”
Schumer has repeatedly argued that if Republicans do not support calling witnesses during the Senate trial, they will be participating in a “coverup” of Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine.
Schiff defends Pelosi’s decision to delay articles, declines to say whether he’d testify
In an interview on ABC’s “The View,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) cast Pelosi’s decision to delay sending the articles to the Senate as a positive step that helped hold moderate Republicans in the chamber accountable.
“Well, I don’t anticipate that Mitch McConnell is going to change his mind. But what I am hoping is that the public pressure to have a fair trial will mean that these moderate Republican members of the Senate will insist on hearing from people like John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney and others who have first [-hand] information about the president’s effort to shake down a foreign leader to help him cheat in an election,” Schiff said, referring to Trump’s former national security adviser and the acting White House chief of staff, respectively.
He added that if McConnell ultimately dismisses the case without hearing from any witnesses, “it will be the first impeachment case not just involving a president but involving anyone in the nation’s history in which a trial went forward without witnesses.”
Schiff declined to say, however, whether he would personally testify if subpoenaed by the Senate.
“Look, I’m not a fact witness, so other than mollifying the president, I’m not sure why the Senate would call me or Nancy Pelosi as a witness,” he said, adding that doing so “would convert the Senate trial into the same kind of a sham proceeding that the president sought to have Ukraine undertake.”
Trump renews call for dismissal of case against him
As he continued to have a heavy presence on Twitter on Monday, Trump retweeted a pair of his own tweets suggesting that the case against him deserves an “outright dismissal” and that he shouldn’t “have the stigma of Impeachment attached to my name when I did NOTHING wrong.”
In the tweets, Trump dismissed impeachment as a “totally partisan Hoax,” noted that Republicans stood by him in the House vote and said it was “very unfair to tens of millions of voters.”
Trump lashes out at Democrats in tweets and retweets
With an impeachment trial looming, Trump continued to lash out at Democrats on Monday morning, focusing mostly on their questions about the intelligence behind the U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani.
“The Fake News Media and their Democrat Partners are working hard to determine whether or not the future attack by terrorist Soleimani was ‘eminent’ or not, & was my team in agreement,” Trump said in one tweet. “The answer to both is a strong YES., but it doesn’t really matter because of his horrible past!”
Shortly afterward, Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) seized on Trump’s misspelling of “imminent,” tweeting: “You are profoundly stupid.”
In another tweet, Trump claimed Democrats would not be pleased by anything he does.
“The Democrats and the Fake News are trying to make terrorist Soleimani into a wonderful guy, only because I did what should have been done for 20 years,” he tweeted. “Anything I do, whether it’s the economy, military, or anything else, will be scorned by the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats!”
Earlier Monday, Trump retweeted a doctored image of Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) in traditional Muslim garb before an Iranian flag.
Conservative super PAC targets Sen. Gardner for defending Trump
The Liberty Project, a super PAC formed by conservative Trump critics to counter the president and his “enablers,” unveiled a new digital ad Monday targeting Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who faces a tough reelection this year.
“You’re just another Trump servant,” the ad says. “Weak, frightened, impotent, a small man frightened of a political bully. … So scared of his tweets you’ll do anything Trump orders: blocking witnesses, stonewalling to keep Trump’s obstruction secret, breaking your oath to follow the constitution and the law.”
Among the group’s leaders is George Conway, a lawyer and husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.
Harris says McConnell wants a coverup
Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) on Monday accused McConnell of seeking a coverup of Trump’s conduct on Ukraine.
“Speaker Pelosi is right: McConnell doesn’t want a Senate trial — he wants a cover-up,” Harris said in a tweet that included a link to a news story about Pelosi’s appearance Sunday on ABC News’s “This Week.”
In that interview, Pelosi said dismissing the case against Trump would amount to a coverup and noted that McConnell was co-sponsoring legislation that would allow that to happen.
In a subsequent tweet Monday, Harris said senators “must ensure a fair process that truly reflects our values.”
“The American people want to know that their senators are pursuing truth and justice,” she tweeted.
Cardin presses case for witnesses ‘with direct knowledge’
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) pressed the case Monday for calling witnesses with direct knowledge of Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine.
“It’s critically important for the Senate to conduct a fair trial, and a fair trial includes hearing the witnesses who have direct knowledge of the president’s participation with the president of Ukraine and the coverup, potential obstruction of justice with Congress, and those witnesses need to testify in the Senate,” Cardin said during an appearance on CNN.
During the interview, he also credited Pelosi for announcing she would send the articles of impeachment to the Senate this week, calling it “the right decision.”
Impeachment timeline will allow three senators to participate in Democratic presidential debate
The timeline that is emerging for the start of a Senate trial will allow three White House hopefuls who are in the Senate to participate in Tuesday night’s Democratic debate in Iowa.
Sens. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) all faced the prospect of instead having to be in Washington for the trial.
Two other sitting senators — Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) — are also still seeking their party’s presidential nomination but did not qualify for the debate.
The debate is being held in Des Moines and will be co-hosted by CNN and the Des Moines Register.
The upcoming trial will probably complicate the campaigning plans of all five hopefuls in advance of the Iowa caucuses early next month.
Scott says he’s ‘absolutely’ prepared to dismiss case against Trump
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who will serve as a juror in Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial, said Monday that he is prepared to vote to dismiss the case and to vote for an acquittal if it moves forward.
During an appearance on Hugh Hewitt’s syndicated radio show, Scott was asked whether he is prepared to take both of those votes based on what he has seen and read. (Hewitt is an opinion columnist for The Washington Post.)
“Absolutely,” he said in response to both of Hewitt’s questions.
“It was just a sham in the House, and it’s just been a circus by Pelosi,” Scott said. “All this was a game by her.”
Scott predicted that there would be no witnesses called at the trial and that it would end “within a couple weeks.”
Blumenthal says GOP senators should ‘put country above party’
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) publicly urged his Republican colleagues Monday to “put country above party” as he sought to advance the Democratic case for calling witnesses at Trump’s upcoming trial.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has pledged that he will force multiple votes on calling witnesses, including Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
It would require four Republican votes to call such witnesses, assuming all 47 members of the Democratic caucus vote to do so.
Asked during an appearance on CNN if he’s aware of four GOP senators who will vote with the Democrats, Blumenthal said, “There are certainly senators who have expressed misgivings about a trial that becomes a sham or a charade because the president dictates the rules of his own trial, which is what Mitch McConnell wants.”
During the interview, Blumenthal, who like other senators will act as a juror, left no doubt about how he will vote.
“Right now we are entering a historic time,” he said. “We have to put country above party, put aside partisanship. There’s overwhelming evidence in my view of the president’s corrupt abuse of power to his personal benefit. If I were the prosecutor here, and I was a prosecutor for quite a while, I would say I could rest my case. But witnesses and documents are really necessary here to corroborate that evidence we have already.”
GOP senators certain to face questions about Trump’s call for an ‘outright dismissal’
As they return to Washington on Monday, Republican senators are certain to face questions about Trump’s tweet on Sunday calling for an “outright dismissal” of the impeachment case against him.
“Many believe that by the Senate giving credence to a trial based on the no evidence, no crime, read the transcripts, ‘no pressure’ Impeachment Hoax, rather than an outright dismissal, it gives the partisan Democrat Witch Hunt credibility that it otherwise does not have. I agree!” Trump tweeted on Sunday afternoon.
McConnell last week signed onto a resolution from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to allow for the dismissal of the obstruction of the charges against Trump because Pelosi has not yet transferred the articles to the Senate for a trial.
Preparations underway for historic Senate trial
Preparations are underway in the Senate for a historic trial of Trump expected to begin this week after the House transmits the two articles of impeachment to that chamber.
Pelosi has said she will meet with House Democrats on Tuesday morning to discuss the timing of a vote on appointing impeachment managers — the half-dozen lawmakers who will prosecute the case and transmit the charges to the Senate.
A trial could start as early as Wednesday, if the House acts quickly, though lawmakers and aides have speculated that it will not begin in earnest until next week. Several days of procedural matters are expected to take place first.
The exact contours of the trial also remain unclear.
Senate Republicans have rallied behind the precedent set during President Bill Clinton’s 1999 impeachment trial, in which the case for removal was presented and rebutted before decisions were made about calling witnesses or seeking further evidence.
Democrats are pressing for several witnesses, including former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who declined to participate in House impeachment proceedings.
McConnell has signaled the possibility of ending the trial without any witnesses, though at least some in his caucus — most notably Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) — are not fully on board with that strategy.
Trump has sent mixed signals. In recent days, he has renewed calls for a trial to include the Bidens, for example. But in a tweet on Sunday, he backed the idea of an “outright dismissal” of the case against him.
Ahead of Senate trial, Trump has high-profile appearances scheduled
As preparations accelerate for his Senate trial, Trump has several high-profile appearances scheduled in coming days.
On Monday, he and first lady Melania Trump are scheduled to attend the college football national championship game in New Orleans between Louisiana State University and Clemson University.
Trump is scheduled to leave the White House shortly after 4 p.m. He often stops on the South Lawn before boarding Marine One to take questions from reporters on impeachment and other subjects.
On Tuesday, Trump has planned an evening “Keep America Great” campaign rally in Milwaukee. In the past, he has used such rallies to air his grievances about the impeachment process and the Democrats leading it.
Trump carried Wisconsin by less than a percentage point against Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. The state is key to the Republican nominee’s chances next year.
House and Senate return to Washington on Monday
Both House and Senate members return to Washington on Monday ahead of a pivotal week in the impeachment process.
Pelosi plans a late-afternoon meeting with leaders of her chamber before the Tuesday morning meeting with the full House Democratic caucus to discuss moving forward with the naming of impeachment managers and transmitting articles of impeachment.
On Sunday, Pelosi said that Trump is “impeached for life” regardless of “any gamesmanship” by McConnell, whom she accused of orchestrating a “coverup” and repeatedly chastised for signaling that he is not interested in fully weighing the House’s charges.
“Dismissing is a coverup. Dismissing is a coverup. If they want to go that route again, the senators who are thinking now about voting for witnesses or not — they will have to be accountable for not having a fair trial,” Pelosi said on ABC News’s “This Week.”
A pact with Trump on impeachment? McConnell’s Kentucky backers demand it.
FLORENCE, Ky. — It is not easy these days to lose as a Republican running in ruby-red Kentucky. But that is what happened here in November in the governor’s race, when the caustic incumbent managed to alienate enough of his base to fall just short.
This year, another polarizing and unpopular Republican will be up for reelection in the Bluegrass State. But McConnell has at least one key advantage that former governor Matt Bevin did not: As perhaps the most powerful man on Capitol Hill, he is positioned to drive a stake through efforts to oust a Republican who remains indisputably admired among Kentucky voters: Trump.
The Senate majority leader’s insistence that he will coordinate Trump’s impeachment trial with the White House — and that he has no intention of being impartial — has provoked howls of protest from Democrats. On Sunday, Pelosi accused McConnell of orchestrating a “coverup” of Trump’s actions.
It has also prompted speculation that he could jeopardize his slender majority by exposing Republicans in swing or Democratic-leaning states to accusations that they went along with a rigged process running counter to the Constitution. But here in Kentucky, it just looks like savvy politics.
Read more here.