Representative Adam B. Schiff, the former federal prosecutor who has steered the House impeachment investigation into President Trump, secured his place as a liberal rock star — and villain to conservatives — with the fiery closing argument he delivered Thursday night, imploring senators to convict and remove Mr. Trump because “you know you can’t trust this president to do what’s right for this country.”
By Friday morning, the phrase #RightMatters — from the last line of Mr. Schiff’s speech — was trending as a hashtag on Twitter, which was lighting up with reaction from across the philosophical spectrum. “I am in tears,” wrote Debra Messing, the “Will & Grace” actress and outspoken Trump critic. “Thank you Chairman Schiff for fighting for our country.”
Even some Republicans are giving Mr. Schiff, Democrat of California and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, grudging respect for delivering a masterful performance. But they also view him as nothing more than a shrewd political operator, and say that his words made clear that for Democrats, impeachment is about undoing the results of the 2016 election — and preventing the president from winning in 2020.

“Adam Schiff is already disputing the results of the 2020 election. Impeachment 2.0?” wrote Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee.

Mr. Schiff is known on Capitol Hill for his serious demeanor and dry laconic wit. But on Thursday, he was filled with passion, his voice rising and his face reddening as he made a late-night appeal to a tired and bitterly divided audience of senators, which he was promoting with a video clip on his own Twitter feed on Friday.
“You know you can’t trust this president to do what’s right for this country — you can trust he will do what’s right for Donald Trump,” he said, adding, “This is why if you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters. Right matters and the truth matters. Otherwise we are lost.”

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. stressed that the Senate had earned that title in part because “its members avoid speaking in a manner and using language that is not conducive to civil discourse.”Credit...T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

9:44 a.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Nicholas Fandos
House managers call on White House counsel to disclose his knowledge of impeachment-related conduct.
Escalating a war of paperwork over their charges, the House managers insisted on Tuesday that Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel and his lead lawyer in the trial, disclose what he knows about the behavior underlying the impeachment charges.
“Evidence indicates that, at a minimum, you have detailed knowledge of the facts regarding the first article and played an instrumental role in the conduct charged in the second article,” the managers wrote. “The ethical rules generally preclude a lawyer from acting as an advocate at a trial in which he is likely also a necessary witness.”
The managers stopped short of calling for Mr. Cipollone to recuse himself from the proceedings. But they said their investigation had shown Mr. Cipollone had intimate knowledge of contemporaneous complaints within the White House about President Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine and was instrumental in his attempts to block testimony and evidence from reaching the House — attempts the House deemed unconstitutional obstruction of Congress.

Representative Adam B. Schiff speaking to reporters at the Capitol on Friday.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead House prosecutor, called on Chief Justice John Roberts to expedite rulings on any disputes between Congress and President Trump over witness testimony and documents, if the Senate votes to allow them.

Day One in Impeachment of Donald Trump: Senate Adopts Trial Rules
Jan. 22, 2020
The New York Times - www.nytimes.com
BREAKING NEWS
The Senate approved the ground rules for President Trump's impeachment trial after Republicans blocked 11 Democratic amendments.
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
The adoption of the trial rules ended hours of acrimonious debate in which House managers and White House lawyers clashed over the role of the Senate in seeking additional evidence relevant to the accusations against Mr. Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, at the White House last year.Credit...Tom Brenner for The New York Times

Monica Lewinsky testified in a recorded interview during her former lover Bill Clinton's trial in 1999

1:29 a.m. Jan. 22, 2020
By Michael D. Shear - Senate rejects request for more time to respond to motions.

Trump supporter Sen Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks to the media before attending the impeachment trial. (AP)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine next week during a trip to Ukraine and four other countries in Europe and Central Asia,the State Department said on Friday. It will be the first meeting between a member of President Trump’s cabinet and Mr. Zelensky since the impeachment inquiry against Mr. Trump began in the fall.
Mr. Pompeo has twice canceled planned trips to Ukraine in recent months. The first trip had been planned for November, when American officials were testifying in the House about the Ukraine affair, and the second had been intended for this month. When Mr. Pompeo canceled that trip on Jan. 1, the State Department said that he was staying in Washington because of anti-American protests at the embassy in Baghdad. During that period, Mr. Trump, Mr. Pompeo and other top officials were planning a drone strike on Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Iran’s most powerful general.
The State Department said Mr. Pompeo planned to arrive in Kyiv on Thursday, where he would seek “to highlight U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” It said he also planned to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony “to honor those who have fallen” in Donbass, where the Ukrainian military is fighting a yearslong insurgency that is supported by Russia. The American military aid at the center of the impeachment proceedings against Mr. Trump is intended to bolster the Ukrainians in that war and to help deter Russian aggression.

House impeachment managers' prosecution strategy became clearer as the second day of opening arguments wore on.

On Wednesday — day one of prosecutors' opening arguments — House Democrats laid out a broad yet detailed overview of the president's scheme to pressure Ukraine into acceding to his personal demands while withholding military aid and a White House meeting for Ukraine's president.
Impeachment managers gave the Senate, and the public, an intricate timeline of how Trump's efforts played out, and the lengths he went to conceal them until they were publicly revealed.

They also broadly outlined the two charges against him, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and specific conduct they said supported the charges.
On Thursday — day two of opening arguments – House prosecutors began by discussing the constitutional grounds for impeaching Trump, and why his actions rise to the level of impeachable conduct. During the second half of the day, they turned their focus to Trump's alleged abuse of power and all the ways his conduct went astray of official US policy.

They drew on testimony from Trump's own officials who said his actions were "wrong," "inappropriate," and "improper."
House managers have one more day to make their opening arguments before Trump's defense team gets a chance to present a rebuttal. It's likely Democrats will use their last day to focus on Trump's alleged obstruction of Congress, and to make a final case to call more witnesses.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. early Wednesday morning delivered an extraordinary admonishment of Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, one of the impeachment managers, and Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, after the two men traded insults in a particularly biting exchange.
Chief Justice Roberts urged the men to “remember that they are addressing the world’s greatest deliberative body,” and stressed that the Senate had earned that title in part because “its members avoid speaking in a manner and using language that is not conducive to civil discourse.”
“I do think those addressing the Senate should remember where they are,” the chief justice said.
ROBERTS ADMONISHES NADLER AND CIPOLLONE.

WATCH: Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump | January 21
PBS NewsHour

DONALD TRUMP
Trump’s Senate impeachment trial: Expected order of business
https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/trump-s-senate-impeachment-trial-expected-order-of-business-77155909859
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump
 
House sends impeachment articles to Senate, Pelosi names trial managers
The "trial will commence in earnest on Tuesday," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/pelosi-calls-witnesses-trump-trial-after-new-evidence-n1116091


Jan. 15, 2020,
 
By Jane C. Timm and Rebecca Shabad

WASHINGTON — The House voted on Wednesday to send the impeachment articles against President Donald Trump to the Senate, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the seven House Democrats who will serve as the "managers" in the trial, which is set to start next week.
The measure passed 228-193, with one Democrat opposing the resolution — Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, who also voted last month against both articles of impeachment.

The two articles, charging the president with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, were signed by Pelosi at a historic engrossment ceremony Wednesday evening and then hand-delivered to the Senate in a procession through the Capitol that was led by the House clerk and sergeant-at-arms and included the House managers.
"Today, we will make history, when we walk down — when the managers walk down the hall, [they'll] cross a threshold in history, delivering articles of impeachment against the president of the United States for abuse of power and obstruction of the House," Pelosi said during the ceremony in the Rayburn room across from the House chamber.

Pelosi was flanked at the ceremony by the House managers, who will serve as the prosecution in the Senate trial, and committee chairs who conducted the impeachment inquiry. The speaker signed the articles using several pens, which she then distributed to the managers and committee heads as keepsakes.
The seven managers then followed House Clerk Cheryl Johnson, who carried the articles, into Statuary Hall, past Pelosi's leadership office, through the Capitol Rotunda and then past Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office. The House clerk then took the articles into the Senate chamber.
As the message that the articles were transmitted was read aloud, all the senators in the room turned around to look except McConnell, who faced forward to the dais, not turning around once to see the scene unfold behind him.

Soon after, McConnell rose to acknowledge the submission of articles and lay some ground rules for the next few days. He said that the Senate will officially receive the House managers at noon ET on Thursday, when they will present and exhibit the articles to the upper chamber. At 2 p.m. Chief Justice John Roberts, who will preside over the trial, will be escorted into the Senate chamber and swear in all senators.

The "trial will commence in earnest on Tuesday," McConnell said. It remains undecided if witnesses will be called to testify.
The House managers who will prosecute the case against the president in the Senate are: Reps. Adam Schiff of California, who will be the lead manager; Jerry Nadler of New York; Hakeem Jeffries of New York; Jason Crow of Colorado; Zoe Lofgren of California; Val Demings of Florida; and Sylvia Garcia of Texas.

The managers have varied biographies: Schiff was a federal prosecutor; Demings was a police chief; several are attorneys; and Lofgren was a staffer on the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment and a House member during the Clinton impeachment.
"This is about the Constitution of the United States, and it's important for the president to know and Putin to know that American voters — voters in America — should decide who our president is," Pelosi said, referring to the Russian president at a press conference with the managers.
Nadler said on the floor ahead of the resolution vote that Pelosi had "led our fight for a fair trial in the Senate."
"Above all, a fair trial must include additional documents and relevant witnesses," he said. "The American people have common sense. They know that any trial that does not allow witnesses is not a trial. It is a cover-up.
During Pelosi's news conference, Trump called the impeachment a "Con Job" in a tweet, and McConnell spoke on the Senate floor.

Trump told GOP lawmakers who attended the signing of his trade deal with China, including Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the House minority leader, that he'd understand if they had to leave for the vote on the impeachment resolution. "They have a hoax going on over there, so let’s take care of it," Trump said.

McConnell said on the floor that impeachment "undoes the people's decision in a national election. Going about it in this subjective, unfair and rushed way is corrosive to our institutions. It hurts national unity, and it virtually guarantees — guarantees — that future Houses of either party will feel free, free to impeach any future president because they don't like him."
At her news conference, Pelosi also reiterated her call for witness testimony at the trial.
"Time has been our friend in all of this, because it has yielded incriminating evidence, more truth into the public domain," Pelosi said.
Earlier, she spoke about newly released documents linking Trump directly to his attorney Rudy Giuliani’s political digging in Ukraine, saying they highlighted the need for witness testimony at the impeachment trial.
"There can be no full & fair trial in the Senate if Leader McConnell blocks the Senate from hearing witnesses and obtaining documents President Trump is covering up," Pelosi said in one tweet.
“The President has fought tooth-and-nail to keep thousands of documents away from the public," the speaker said in another tweet. "And no wonder — each time new pieces come out, they show President Trump right at the center of the effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.”
Nancy Pelosi✔@SpeakerPelosi
 Jan 15, 2020
The President has fought tooth-and-nail to keep thousands of documents away from the public.
And no wonder – each time new pieces come out, they show President Trump right at the center of the effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.
Nancy Pelosi✔@SpeakerPelosi
There can be no full & fair trial in the Senate if Leader McConnell blocks the Senate from hearing witnesses and obtaining documents President Trump is covering up. #DefendOurDemocracy
22.5K
11:08 AM - Jan 15, 2020

The documents — part of the evidence turned over to House impeachment investigators by lawyers for Lev Parnas, a Giuliani associate who is awaiting trial on campaign finance charges — include a letter from Giuliani requesting a private meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, then the president-elect of Ukraine, with Trump's "knowledge and consent."
The letter, written on Giuliani's letterhead, was dated May 10, 2018.
Trump has previously tried to distance himself from his attorney's Ukraine work, saying in November, "I didn't direct him."

But the documents, which were released on Tuesday by House Democrats, appear to bolster House Democrats' claim that Trump was more than aware of Giuliani's efforts to find dirt in Ukraine on political rival Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee.
Managers who spoke during the press conference emphasized that if Republicans block the testimony of witnesses or documents, then they are engaging in a cover-up.

"If the Senate doesn’t permit the introduction of all relevant witnesses and of all documents that the House wants to introduce because the House is the prosecutor here, then the Senate is engaging in an unconstitutional and disgusting cover-up," said Nadler. "The question is: Does the Senate conduct a trial according to the Constitution, to vindicate the republic, or does the Senate participate in the president’s crimes by covering them up?"
Pelosi held the articles in the House for weeks, seeking to negotiate an agreement for witness testimony in the Senate, but McConnell rebuffed her efforts to negotiate a deal.

The decision to delay the transmission of the articles to the Senate, Schiff said, was "very effective" in bringing new evidence to light and forcing senators to go on the record regarding whether they want a fair trial.

McCarthy, however, said on the House floor Wednesday that Pelosi had held the articles "hostage in a failed play to gain leverage that she did not, and would never, have in terms of concessions. She got nothing, no control, no moral victories. In other words, another failed strategy."
The president complained this week that he did not receive a fair "trial" in the House of Representatives. Impeachment trials are only held in the Senate, however, while the House is charged with investigating and deciding whether a trial should occur.
A senior administration official said Wednesday that it would be “extraordinarily unlikely” for the trial to go beyond two weeks, arguing that the articles of impeachment were so thin it won’t take long for the president’s team to mount a defense.

The offcial also said the Senate was not expected to hear from witnesses, but if it does, the president’s side would expect to be able to call their own.

The official declined to comment on whether Trump would assert executive privilege to block former national security adviser John Bolton from testifying if subpoenaed at the urging of Democrats, but said it would be an “extraordinary matter” to have someone in that position publicly discuss private conversations about national security matters with the president.
Jane C. Timm
Jane C. Timm is a political reporter for NBC News, fact checking elections and covering voting rights.
Rebecca Shabad
Rebecca Shabad is a congressional reporter for NBC News, based in Washington.

Trump impeachment inquiry: A timeline of events

May 2014
Hunter Biden joins board of Burisma
In a company news release, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden says that he will assist Ukrainian oil and gas company Burisma “in consulting the Company on matters of transparency, corporate governance and responsibility, international expansion and other priorities.”

Aug. 13, 2018
Trump extends $250 million to Ukraine
As part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, President Donald Trump signs an agreement to give $250 million in aid to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. 

May 9, 2019
Giuliani states plans to investigate Hunter Biden
In an interview with The New York Times, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani says that he plans to meet with Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy to discuss a potential inquiry into Hunter Biden’s involvement with Burisma. 

May 16, 2019
Investigation finds no evidence of Bidens’ wrongdoing
Ukraine’s former prosecutor general, Yuriy Lutsenko, tells Bloomberg News that Hunter Biden did not violate any Ukrainian laws, according to an ongoing investigation. 

July 25, 2019
Trump speaks with Zelenskiy
In a phone call, Trump congratulates Zelenskiy on his election. During the conversation, Trump suggests that Zelenskiy should investigate Joe and Hunter Bidens’ dealings in Ukraine  for possible corruption, according to notes later released by the White House.

Aug. 28, 2019
Reports indicate Trump administration withholds aid to Ukraine

A Politico report reveals that Trump has delayed the delivery of aid to Ukraine, purportedly in order to review the funding program.

Sept. 9, 2019
House Democrats launch investigation of Giuliani
The chairmen of the Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight committees request documents from the White House in relation to what they called Giuliani’s attempts “to coerce the Ukrainian government into pursuing two politically motivated investigations under the guise of anti-corruption activity.” 

Sept. 9, 2019
IG notifies Intelligence Committee of whistleblower complaint
Inspector General Michael Atkinson of the Intelligence Community alerts the House Intelligence Committee, headed by Rep. Adam Schiff, to the existence of a whistleblower complaint. A group of House committees subsequently request that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo release documents related to the Trump administration and Ukraine.

Sept. 19, 2019
Whistleblower complaint linked to Ukraine
The Washington Post first reports that the whistleblower complaint pertains to a “promise” that Trump made to a foreign leader. A later report indicates that Ukraine was at the center of the complaint. 

Sept. 23, 2019
Trump suggests he tied Ukraine funding to corruption investigations
Trump tells reporters that he had tied funding for Ukraine to the country’s investigation of corruption, although in later interviews, he denies making such a demand. 

Sept. 24, 2019
Pelosi announces impeachment inquiry
Amid rising support from House Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announces a formal impeachment investigation into the president, stating that Trump’s communications with Ukraine presented a “breach of his Constitutional responsibilities.” 

Sept. 25, 2019
White House releases notes from Trump-Zelenskiy call
The White House releases a transcription memo from Trump’s July phone call with Zelenskiy, in which Trump asked his counterpart to “do us a favor” by investigating Hunter Biden’s dealings in Ukraine. 

Sept. 26, 2019
White House releases whistleblower complaint
The White House discloses the declassified whistleblower complaint, which details Trump’s July 25 phone call and cites concerns over the Trump administration’s attempts to restrict access to records of the call. 

Sept. 27, 2019
House Democrats subpoena Pompeo
Three House chairmen write a letter demanding Pompeo turn over documents related to the Trump-Zelenskiy call by Oct. 4.

Sept. 27, 2019
Special envoy to Ukraine resigns
Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, steps down amid the impeachment inquiry. A source familiar with the matter told NBC News that Volker sought to have more freedom over what he could say if he were called to testify before Congress. 

Sept. 30, 2019
House Democrats subpoena Giuliani
The House Intelligence Committee requests that Giuliani turn over Ukraine-related documents by Oct. 15. Giuliani says on Twitter that the subpoena “raises significant issues concerning legitimacy,” but it will be given “appropriate consideration.” 

Oct. 2, 2019
Trump accuses Schiff of orchestrating whistleblower complaint
A House Intelligence Committee spokesman acknowledges that the whistleblower consulted with an aide to Chairman Adam Schiff before filing his complaint. The news prompted Trump to point a finger at Schiff as the orchestrator of the complaint, while the House Intelligence Committee told NBC News that its interactions with the whistleblower adhered to standard protocol. 

Oct. 3, 2019
Trump publicly urges China to investigate the Bidens
Addressing reporters on the South Lawn, Trump remarked that “China should start an investigation into the Bidens, because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.” 

Oct. 3, 2019
Details on IRS whistleblower complaint revealed
In a separate whistleblower complaint, an employee at the Internal Revenue Service reported that he was told at least one Treasury Department political appointee had attempted to improperly interfere in the annual audit of Trump and Vice President Mike Pence’s tax returns, according to The Washington Post. 

Oct. 4, 2019
Texts show U.S. ambassadors pushing Ukraine investigation
Text messages from U.S. diplomats, which Volker turned over to Congress as part of the impeachment inquiry, reveal that they had tried to persuade Zelenskiy to investigate the Bidens in exchange for an official invitation to the White House.

Oct. 4, 2019
Pompeo misses subpoena deadline
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo failed to produce documents related to Ukraine by the deadline outlined in the subpoena, which was issued by the House on Sept. 27.

Oct. 4, 2019
House Dems subpoena White House for Ukraine documents
House Democrats subpoena the White House after warning that they would be forced to take action if Trump administration officials refused to turn over requested materials related to the impeachment inquiry. 

Oct. 6, 2019
Second whistleblower comes forward
Attorneys representing the original whistleblower announce that they are now representing a second whistleblower with “first-hand knowledge” of the Trump-Zelenskiy call.

Oct. 7, 2019
House Dems subpoena defense secretary and Trump budget chief
Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Russell Vought, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, become the next recipients of House subpoenas for documents related to Trump’s communications with Ukraine.

Oct. 8, 2019
White House refuses to comply with impeachment inquiry
In a defiant letter, the White House announces that it will not turn over requested documents related to the Trump-Ukraine probe, arguing that the House Democrats are conducting an invalid and unconstitutional investigation.

Oct. 10, 2019
House Dems issue more subpoenas after White House refuses to cooperate
Responding to the White House’s refusal to hand over documents, House Democrats subpoena Energy Secretary Rick Perry and two businessmen — Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas — who worked with Giuliani in his dealings with Ukraine. 

Oct. 10, 2019
Giuliani associates arrested on campaign finance charges
Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas — who worked with Giuliani as part of his efforts to encourage Ukraine to investigate the Bidens — were arrested at Dulles Airport on charges tied to an alleged effort to influence U.S. politics with illegal campaign contributions. 

Oct. 11, 2019
Gordon Sondland agrees to testify in impeachment inquiry
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the E.U., defies the State Department’s orders by agreeing to a closed-door interview as part of the impeachment inquiry. He is scheduled to testify this week.

Oct. 11, 2019
Trump loses appeal over House subpoena on tax returns
Amid efforts by the Trump administration to block congressional investigations into Trump’s financial records, a federal appeals court rules that his accounting firm must turn over documents related to Trump’s accounts dating to 2009. 

Oct. 11, 2019
Former ambassador to Ukraine testifies before the House
Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was abruptly ousted in May, testifies before the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs Committees, alleging that Trump pressured the State Department to remove her from office. 

Oct. 11, 2019
Lutsenko revealed as leader of plot to oust Yovanovitch
Ukraine’s chief former prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, is identified as the previously unnamed official referred to in a federal indictment as having directed a plot to oust Yovanovitch. 

Oct. 13, 2019
Hunter Biden steps down from Chinese-backed firm
In his first public statement since his business activities became an issue in the 2020 presidential race, Hunter Biden’s lawyers announce that he will resign from the board of the Chinese-backed private equity firm BHR, and he will abstain from doing business with any foreign-owned companies if his father is elected president. 

Oct. 14, 2019
Trump’s top former aide to Russia testifies in impeachment inquiry
Fiona Hill, Trump’s former top Russia analyst, testifies behind closed doors to the House under subpoena. According to the transcript of her testimony later released by the House committees leading the inquiry, Hill stated that she endured targeted harassment during her time in the Trump administration. 

Oct. 15, 2019
Giuliani refuses to comply with subpoena
Calling the impeachment inquiry “unconstitutional, baseless and illegitimate,” Giuliani’s lawyer Jon Sale submits a letter stating that Giuliani will not turn over any documents or communications requested as part of the impeachment inquiry. 

Oct. 15, 2019
Pence refuses House request to turn over documents
In a letter to the chairmen of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees, Pence counsel Matthew Morgan writes that the vice president will not hand over any documents related to the Trump-Zelenskiy call. 

Oct. 15, 2019
Pelosi announces House won’t hold impeachment vote “at this time”
Amid demands from the White House and congressional Republicans to initiate the impeachment investigation with a formal vote on the House floor, Pelosi says that there is “no requirement” to have a vote, and the House will therefore not be holding one “at this time.” 

Oct. 15, 2019
State Department official testifies to House Dems
State Department official George Kent testifies that he believed Trump’s relations with Ukraine were “injurious to the rule of law,” and he was told to “lay low” after filing concerns over Giuliani, according to a transcript of his testimony released weeks later. 

Oct. 16, 2019
Esper says he will no longer comply with subpoena
After Defense Secretary Esper previously indicated that he would turn over documents related to the Trump-Ukraine call, the Pentagon issued a letter stating that he will not comply with a subpoena from House Democrats, citing concerns over the absence of an official House vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry. 

Oct. 16, 2019
Ukrainian oligarch Firtash linked to Giuliani associates
An American gas executive reveals that Giuliani’s associates Parnas and Fruman advocated gas deals on behalf of Dmytro Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch fighting extradition to the U.S. on federal bribery charges. Firtash also assisted in obtaining an affidavit used in Trump’s efforts to discredit the Bidens. 

Oct. 17, 2019
Sondland gives closed-door deposition before House Democrats
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the E.U., testifies that Giuliani told him he was ordered by Trump to push Ukraine’s investigation into both the 2016 election and the Ukraine gas company tied to Hunter Biden. 

Oct. 17, 2019
White House admits to quid pro quo with Ukraine, then walks it back
Speaking at a press briefing, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney affirms that Trump withheld funds from Ukraine in part due to his request that the country investigate the Bidens and look for the Democratic National Committee server. He later tries to take back the remarks, saying that there was “absolutely no quid pro quo” between Ukrainian aid and a probe of the 2016 election. 

Oct. 17, 2019
Rick Perry resigns as energy secretary
Perry, who emerged as a central figure in the Trump-Ukraine affair, announces his resignation, effective by the end of the year. He states in an interview with Fox News that his decision had “absolutely nothing to do with Ukraine.” 

Oct. 21, 2019
House Republicans attempt to censure Schiff
Accusing House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of spreading a “false retelling” of the Trump-Zelenskiy call, House Republicans fail to pass a resolution to censure Schiff. In a hearing several weeks earlier, Schiff presented a parodied version of Trump’s phone call before adding that he was merely illustrating a point. 

Oct. 22, 2019
Ukraine envoy testifies in closed hearing
Acting ambassador Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, appears before the House. In a testimony deemed “explosive” by House Dems, Taylor claims that Trump officials pushed what appeared to be a direct tie between aid to Ukraine and Zelenskiy’s investigation of the Bidens while denying any quid pro quo. 

Oct. 23, 2019
House Republicans storm secure room, delaying testimony
Rebuking Democrats’ handling of the impeachment inquiry, a group of approximately 20 House Republicans storm a secure room where top Pentagon official Laura Cooper was scheduled to give a closed-door deposition. 

Oct. 25, 2019
Federal judge rules House has launched “official impeachment inquiry”
Amid the White House’s refusal to cooperate with House Dems over accusations that the impeachment inquiry was illegitimate, a federal judge affirms the probe’s legality. The judge also orders the Department of Justice to turn over grand jury evidence referenced in redacted portions of the Mueller report. 

Oct. 28, 2019
Former Trump adviser fails to appear for testimony
Former deputy national security adviser Charles Kupperman, who had previously filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to rule on whether he had to testify under a congressional subpoena, does not appear for his scheduled deposition. 

Oct. 29, 2019
National Security official Alexander Vindman testifies in closed-door deposition
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, states that he tried to edit the White House log of the Trump-Zelenskiy call to include details that were omitted, including Trump mentioning possible recordings of Joe Biden discussing corruption in Ukraine and Zelenskiy specifically referencing Burisma. Top Democrats at the deposition called his remarks “extremely disturbing.” 

Oct. 29, 2019
House Dems release impeachment resolution
House Democrats release the text of a resolution that they plan to formalize with a vote on Oct. 31. The resolution outlines the parameters for the impeachment inquiry’s public phase, which would authorize redacted transcripts of closed-door depositions to be published and permit the president to participate in impeachment proceedings held by the House Judiciary Committee. 

Oct. 30, 2019
Two State Department officials reveal details of Ukraine discussions
Christopher Anderson, an adviser to former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, testifies that Giuliani’s attempt to urge the Ukrainian government to open investigations was discussed at a Department of Energy strategy meeting in June 2019. 

Oct. 31, 2019
House adopts impeachment resolution
The House passes a resolution approving procedures for the next phase of its impeachment inquiry on a 232-196 vote that adhered largely to party lines. The White House decries the vote as “unfair, unconstitutional, and fundamentally un-American.” 

Oct. 31, 2019
Former top national security adviser testifies in closed-door deposition
Tim Morrison, who resigned as an adviser to Russian and European affairs the day before his hearing, testifies that there was “nothing illegal” about the Trump-Zelenskiy call, but said he was concerned about the impact on policy if the call were to become public. 

Nov. 4, 2019
Four witnesses fail to appear for scheduled testimony
National Security Council legal adviser John Eisenberg and his deputy, Michael Ellis, top White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney aide Robert Blair, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry's former chief of staff Brian McCormack all defy requests to give depositions. 

Nov. 4, 2019
House committees release first transcripts of closed-door depositions
Three House committees leading the impeachment inquiry release the deposition transcripts of ousted Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and Michael McKinley, the former senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. 

Nov. 5, 2019
Sondland confirms quid pro quo with Ukraine
U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland changes his testimony to say that he remembers telling a top aide to Zelenskiy that Ukraine would not receive U.S. military aid until it engaged in an investigation of the 2016 election and Joe Biden. 

Nov. 6, 2019
Transcript ties Trump to quid pro quo
House impeachment investigators release the transcript of the testimony given by Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. According to the transcript, Taylor testified that Trump directed officials to tie aid to Ukraine to his demands that Zelenskiy open an investigation into the 2016 election and the Biden family. 

Nov. 7, 2019
Former White House national security adviser skips deposition
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, failed to appear for his scheduled deposition after his lawyer had previously stated that he would not participate in the impeachment inquiry voluntarily. 

Nov. 8, 2019
Mulvaney skips deposition, defying subpoena
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney skips his scheduled deposition, despite having been subpoenaed for his attendance. 

Nov. 9, 2019
House Republicans request witnesses for public hearings
House Republicans submit a letter to Schiff requesting eight witnesses, plus "all individuals" who helped the anonymous whistleblower draft his or her complaint, to testify at the public impeachment hearings. 

Nov. 13, 2019
First public impeachment hearings begin
State Department official George Kent and top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine Bill Taylor testify in the first public hearings of the impeachment inquiry. 

Nov. 15, 2019
Yovanovitch testifies in public impeachment hearing
Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was abruptly ousted in May, testifies in a public impeachment hearing. 

Nov. 19, 2019
Four witnesses testify in public impeachment hearings
Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, Kurt Volker, the former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine and Tim Morrison, former adviser to Russian and European affairs, give public testimonies before the House Intelligence Committee. 

Nov. 20, 2019
Sondland implicates Trump and Pompeo in Ukraine deal in explosive testimony
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union and a key figure in Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, shared new pieces of information, including that the president ordered that he, Kurt Volker, then-U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry work with Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine policy. 

Nov. 20, 2019
Cooper and Hale testify in public impeachment hearing
Shortly after Sondland’s testimony, Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense, and David Hale, undersecretary of state for political affairs, testify in a public impeachment hearing. Cooper reveals that Ukraine knew of the issues with aid earlier than previously known. 

Nov. 21, 2019
Hill and Holmes testify in last scheduled public impeachment hearings

Fiona Hill, Trump's former top adviser on Russia and Europe, and David Holmes, a counselor for political affairs at the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, testified before the House Intelligence Committee in the last of the scheduled public impeachment hearings. 

Nov. 26, 2019
House Judiciary Committee announces first impeachment hearing
The House Judiciary Committee announces that it will hold its first public hearing focused on “Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment” on Dec. 4 and invites President Trump to attend. 

Dec. 1, 2019
White House says it won’t participate in hearing
The White House announces that it will not participate in the House Judiciary Committee’s first impeachment hearing but left open the possibility of taking part in future proceedings. 

Dec. 2, 2019
GOP releases minority report on impeachment inquiry
The Republicans of the House Intelligence Committee issue a report arguing that the closed-door depositions and public hearings failed to provide evidence of an impeachable offense by President Trump. 

Dec. 3, 2019
House Intelligence Committee votes to approve report on impeachment inquiry
The House Intelligence Committee votes along party lines to send a report to the House Judiciary Committee claiming that President Trump obstructed the House inquiry and engaged in improper conduct by withholding aid to Ukraine on the condition of investigating a political rival. 

Dec. 4, 2019
House Judiciary Committee holds first impeachment hearing
Four legal scholars — Harvard law professor Noah Feldman, Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan, University of North Carolina law professor Michael Gerhardt and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley — testify in the Judiciary Committee’s first public impeachment hearing. 

Dec. 5, 2019
Pelosi asks House Judiciary Committee to draft articles of impeachment
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi publicly calls on the House Judiciary Committee to proceed with drafting articles of impeachment against President Trump. 

Dec. 9, 2019
Lawyers testify in second Judiciary Committee hearing
Barry Berke, the Judiciary Committee’s majority counsel, Daniel Goldman, majority counsel for the House Intelligence Committee and Steve Castor, counsel for the House Intelligence Committee Republicans, argue their cases for and against impeachment. 

Dec. 10, 2019
House Democrats unveil two articles of impeachment
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler announces that his committee will consider two articles of impeachment — one for abuse of power and another for obstruction of Congress — charging Trump with “committing high crimes and misdemeanors.” 

Dec. 11-12, 2019
Judiciary Committee holds impeachment articles markup session
House Judiciary Committee members hold a meeting to discuss the articles of impeachment and debate amendments prior to voting on them. 

Dec. 13, 2019
Judiciary Committee votes to approve articles of impeachment
The House Judiciary Committee votes along party lines to recommend two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — for a full House vote. 

Dec. 19, 2019
McConnell declares 'impasse' in talks with Democrats over Trump trial in Senate
McConnell and Schumer have openly feuded in recent days over their competing views of what a Senate trial of Trump — who became just the third-ever president to be impeached — should look like. House Democrats have said they may not submit the articles of impeachment to the Senate unless McConnell agrees to rules that ensure a fair trial 

Dec. 20, 2019
Pelosi invites Trump to deliver the State of the Union
Less than 48 hours after she gaveled in the votes making him the third president to be impeached in United States history, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited Donald Trump to deliver his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Feb. 4. 

Dec. 23, 2019
Impeachment standoff as Democrats and Republicans dig in ahead of the holidays
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is waiting on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to send him the two articles of impeachment so a Senate trial can begin, but Pelosi insisted today that she won’t take the next step in the process “until we know what sort of trial the Senate will conduct.” 

Dec. 23, 2019
'Liars!': Trump fires off post-Christmas tweetstorm over impeachment impasse
President Donald Trump fired off a stream of post-Christmas tweets Thursday blasting Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her San Francisco congressional district amid the impeachment impasse. 

Jan. 1, 2020
Trump says he welcomes Senate impeachment trial as Giuliani says he’d testify
President Trump told reporters he’s looking forward to his upcoming Senate trial, saying “we did nothing wrong.” Chief Justice John Roberts, who will preside over the proceedings, issued a warning in his annual year-end report that social media can “spread rumors and false information on a grand scale.” 

Jan. 3, 2020
McConnell, Schumer start the year deadlocked over Senate impeachment trial
Democrats want Republicans to commit to having witnesses participate in the Senate trial, but GOP leaders haven't yet said where they stand on the question. 

Jan. 6, 2020
Bolton willing to testify in Senate impeachment trial if subpoenaed
Bolton, the former national security adviser to President Trump, said he is willing to testify in the Senate impeachment trial if subpoenaed. In a statement, Bolton wrote, "I have concluded that, if the Senate issues a subpoena for my testimony, I am prepared to testify." 

Jan. 9, 2020
Trump would support witnesses testifying in Senate trial if Bidens were called
President Trump said that he wouldn’t mind a deal in the Senate for witnesses to be called during his impeachment trial if it meant that his defense could also call people to testify, including Joe Biden and his son Hunter. 

Jan. 14, 2020
House Democrats release additional evidence in impeachment case
House Democrats release additional evidence in the Trump impeachment case, which includes phone records and documents from Giuliani associate Lev Parnas. 

Jan. 15, 2020
House votes to send impeachment articles to Senate, Pelosi names trial managers
The House voted to send the impeachment articles against President Trump to the Senate, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the seven House Democrats who will serve as the "managers" in the trial. 

Jan. 20, 2020
McConnell lays out rules for Trump's Senate trial, allowing for vote on witnesses, documents
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will allot each side a total of 24 hours to present their arguments in President Trump's impeachment trial, but the time must be confined to two working days, according to the text of his organizing resolution, which NBC News obtained. 

Jan. 22, 2020
Senate passes McConnell impeachment rules after nearly 13 hours of debate
The Senate passed McConnell's resolution laying out a blueprint for President Trump's impeachment trial along party lines after a day of back and forth between House prosecutors and attorneys for the White House. The Republican majority had voted down several amendments proposed by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to subpoena documents and call witnesses. 

Jan. 23, 2020
House impeachment managers lay out opening arguments
House managers, including Rep. Adam Schiff, laid out the chronological timeline of their case for impeachment. 

Jan. 23, 2020
Trump's Senate impeachment trial: What happened on Day Three
House prosecutors used old comments from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Attorney General William Barr and Trump impeachment defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz to bolster their argument that abuse of power is grounds to remove a president — and pointed to Trump's own statements to illustrate his guilt. 

Source: NBC News
Graphic: Robin Muccari / NBC News

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is surrounded by the House impeachment managers and committee chairs as she signs the two articles of impeachment of before sending them over to the Senate on Wednesday. Leah Millis / Reuters
House Managers walk to the US Senate to deliver the Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill on Jan. 15, 2020.Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan will deliver the Democrats’ response to the State of the Union.Credit...Paul Sancya/Associated Press

Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, speaking to reporters ahead of the trial.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

10:07 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Catie Edmondson
Negotiations to limit debate over evidence yield no deal.
An attempt to strike a deal to shorten debate over whether the Senate should hear testimony from top administration officials and subpoena new documents quickly went nowhere late Tuesday night as Democrats indicated they would continue their efforts to compel new information.
The Senate took a brief break after Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, asked that Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, bundle his amendments requesting witnesses and documents into a single package. Such a move would have allowed the Senate to debate and vote on the requests once, instead of individually.
Mr. Schumer seemed open to striking some sort of deal, but when the leaders returned from the break, no deal had been reached, according to aides with knowledge of the discussions, and it appeared that Democrats would press on.

Donald Trump’s Impeachment Briefing - New York Times - January 24, 2020 

By Noah Weiland

​Welcome back to the Impeachment Briefing. As the Democratic managers wrapped up their opening arguments, a wild story was developing at the State Department.

What happened today
Democratic managers closed out their opening arguments today, concentrating on the second article of impeachment, which charged President Trump with obstructing the inquiry. They made dramatic pronouncements about Mr. Trump’s blocking of witnesses and documents. “He does not have to respect the Congress. He does not have to respect the representatives of the people. Only his will goes,” Representative Jerry Nadler said. “He is a dictator.”
 Here’s some context for what the managers argued: In addition to ordering key witnesses not to testify, the Trump administration stonewalled 71 requests for documents by House investigators during the inquiry, forcing some witnesses to use personal notes and records to construct their testimony.
·Reams of documents have still not been turned over or made public. The Trump administration was blocking access even as the trial took place: The State Department missed another deadline this afternoon to provide materials requested by Congress. “This evidence will come to light,” Representative Val Demings, a manager, said today. “We shouldn’t have to wait for a book.”

·Two of the managers, Representatives Hakeem Jeffries and Jason Crow, suggested that the stonewalling was part of a broader cover-up that took place before the House had even learned of Mr. Trump’s Ukraine pressure campaign — like when government lawyers stifled reports of White House advisers alarmed by Mr. Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s president. “They were determined to prevent Congress and the American people from learning anything about the president’s corrupt behavior,” Mr. Jeffries said.

·Democrats also took the time to acknowledge what they view as an unsettling truth: that today may have been one of their last chances to make a sustained argument in the trial. “Since we won’t have an opportunity to respond to the president’s presentation,” Mr. Crow said, “I want to take a minute to respond to some of the arguments that I expect them to make.”

What comes next
The trial resumes tomorrow at 10 a.m., and it’s the White House’s turn to make opening arguments. Mr. Trump’s legal team said today that they only planned to use a few hours of their allotted time tomorrow to give a brief overview of its case.
“I guess I would call it a trailer, coming attractions,” Jay Sekulow, a personal lawyer for Mr. Trump, said, adding that the Senate had asked the president’s lawyers to limit their presentation tomorrow to no more than three hours. “Next week is when you see the full presentation.”
The president complained this morning that his lawyers would have to open their case in what he said was a ratings dead zone, calling Saturdays “Death Valley” for television.
Mr. Trump’s team has the same amount of time as the managers — 24 hours over a period of three days — but they aren’t expected to run out the clock the way Democrats have. Once they wrap up, senators will get a chance to ask questions, which they will submit in writing to Chief Justice John Roberts.

‘Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?’
This morning, ABC News broke some remarkable news: that there was a recording of Mr. Trump at one of his hotels in April 2018 ordering associates to get rid of Marie Yovanovitch, then the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
“Get her out tomorrow,” Mr. Trump said, according to ABC. “I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. O.K.? Do it.”
Ms. Yovanovitch, who was removed from her post about a year after the recording was made, has remained key to understanding the events that led to Mr. Trump’s trial. Before her ouster, she had been the subject of unsubstantiated rumors that she was privately insulting the president, tales promoted by Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and his associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.
My colleagues Ken Vogel and Ben Protess reported tonight that Mr. Parnas, who has since broken with Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Trump, turned the tape over to congressional Democrats, some of whom said today that the recording bolstered their argument that there may be evidence that has yet to be considered.
But this evening the story took another turn, when we learned about an interview that Mary Louise Kelly, a host of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” conducted today with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
After a series of tough questions about why Mr. Pompeo had not done more to publicly back Ms. Yovanovitch during the impeachment inquiry — a subject the secretary of state has avoided addressing for months — Mr. Pompeo called Ms. Kelly to a private room.
Once inside, Ms. Kelly said, Mr. Pompeo unleashed an expletive-laden tirade at her. He asked her, “Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?” and told an aide bring in an unmarked map to prove she could locate the country.
Before ending the meeting, Ms. Kelly said, Mr. Pompeo told her: “People will hear about this.”

Mike Pompeo vs. his people
The timing of Mr. Pompeo’s comments was extraordinary: Just this morning, the State Department announced that he plans to visit Ukraine later this month, when he’ll become the first cabinet official from the Trump administration to meet with Ukraine’s president since the impeachment inquiry began. The idea of the trip, the State Department said, is “to highlight U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
To get a sense of the circumstances that led to the confrontation, I talked to my colleague David Sanger, who has covered Mr. Pompeo extensively.

David, what explains the outburst?
I wasn’t there, but I can tell you that Mary Louise Kelly of NPR is a true professional and an excellent, experienced correspondent. I’m not surprised she pressed him on Ukraine. And I’m not surprised he responded as he did. Mr. Pompeo is known for a bombastic, contentious style. He can be thin-skinned. He’s had a contentious relationship with a number of reporters, pushing back at their questions.

Other than the tough questions, what do you think really set him off?
He gets irked whenever he is pressed about Ukraine, and specifically on whether he pushed back when the president wanted to get rid of a respected career ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, and cut off the aid to the country. In fact, we believe Mr. Pompeo pressed the president over the summer to restore that aid — but he has never said so, presumably because that would reveal a crack in the administration’s unity on the issue. He often says that internal deliberations, and disagreements, are not something he or anyone in the administration should discuss. And he enforces that inside the State Department.
As the conversation with Ms. Kelly reveals, Mr. Pompeo and others in the administration believe that the American public doesn’t really care about Ukraine. He may be right. But the reason Ukraine is important is that it’s the battleground for the containment of Russian aggression and expansionism. That’s a point that Adam Schiff was making this week at the trial.

It looked like Mr. Pompeo was going to step down and run for Senate. What’s his status at the State Department?
He says he’s not running for that Kansas seat, and certainly he is acting like a fully engaged secretary of state. Inside the State Department, he argues — accurately — that he has brought the agency back after the Rex Tillerson years. He’s reversed budget cuts and ended hiring freezes. But the big concern among the many State Department professionals, and particularly the foreign service, is that he didn’t defend a career foreign service officer who was under attack for political reasons by the president — that, basically, he chose his loyalties to Mr. Trump over his loyalties to his most treasured employees.
This treatment of Ms. Yovanovitch is part of the impeachment story that may have legs well beyond the end of the inquiry. What’s your sense of where people inside the State Department stand on it?
There’s still huge dissatisfaction inside the State Department with the fact that he never publicly stood up for her. He maintains that he’s defended all his people, at all times. But he’s never explained or talked about her specifically, hiding behind the line, “We don’t discuss personnel matters.” Well, in this case, everyone has discussed the personnel matter, including Ambassador Yovanovitch herself, and other senior State Department officials who testified before the House impeachment inquiry.
Their frustration continued when Bill Taylor — who stood in as, essentially, acting ambassador when Ms. Yovanovitch was recalled — appeared to be sent back to the private sector in ways that looked a little premature. The thought was that he, too, was basically being punished for having publicly testified. Remember, it was Mr. Pompeo who asked him to take the post. And then there was a sense that, again, no one had his back.

What else we’re following
·Where is Ms. Yovanovitch these days? My colleague Michael Crowley wrote today about the whereabouts of the impeachment witnesses. The former ambassador is officially still employed by the State Department, which a Fox News reporter spotted her visiting this month. She’s also teaching a class at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.

·Republican leaders have narrowed their focus to one overriding strategic goal: ensuring that the Senate does not vote in favor of calling new witnesses or allowing in new evidence. Here are just some of the ways that they’re explaining their argument.

·Senator Lamar Alexander, one of four Republicans who have signaled an openness to calling witnesses, said today that he wouldn’t make up his mind on the matter until after senators questioned the managers and the president’s team.

·Mr. Giuliani, unable to defend Mr. Trump before the Senate, debuted a new podcast today that delved into why he thought the president was not guilty. But, according to Politico, the launch didn’t go as smoothly as he hoped:

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Several Republican senators have repeatedly said that they've heard nothing new in President Trump's impeachment trial so far.
But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that Republicans were "the very ones who voted against new documents, new witnesses, new facts. Can't have it both ways."

Chief Justice Roberts 

Donald Trump senate impeachment trial day two – watch live
Guardian News
Representatives speak during the second day US senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump House including Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler and Zoe Zofgren: Category: News & Politics

Donald Trump Impeachment - Day four of trial against US President in Senate | LIVE
The Sun

Senator Mitch McConnell and Senator Chuck Schumer were trying to determine the floor schedule for the rest of the evening. Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times; Calla Kessler/The New York Times

Rep. Matt Gaetz. AP

2:13 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Emily Cochrane
Senators are now held to a vow of silence.

The House managers prosecuting the case against President Trump will wrap up their arguments on Friday with a focus on the second article of impeachment: the accusation that the president obstructed Congress by blocking witnesses and documents in an attempt to cover up his misconduct.
It will be their last opportunity to appeal to a handful of moderate Republican senators on the question of seeking additional witnesses and documents before the president’s lawyers take center stage. Debate on that vital question is expected to happen early next week, after the conclusion of the arguments and a period of questions about the case from senators.
In the meantime, the Senate trial has tested the patience of senators, who have sat restlessly in their seats for more than 16 hours over two long days. Despite being admonished that they must remain silent and at attention “upon pain of imprisonment,” some have doodled, traded notes, whispered with their neighbors, or even nodded off.
Mr. Trump’s legal defense team is scheduled to begin their presentation on Saturday, angering the president, who complained on Twitter on Friday morning that “my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V.”
There have been discussions in the Capitol that senators could start the Saturday session earlier than the usual 1 p.m., which could give them the chance to leave earlier, especially if the White House lawyers decide to reserve more of their presentation for Monday.

GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik slams Democrats for relying on constitutional law professors to answer questions about constitutional law
Rep. Elise Stefanik. Screenshot via CSPAN

11:52 a.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
McConnell counts enough votes to defeat any Democratic changes to the trial rules.
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, said in a news conference that he would demand that the Senate subpoena both witnesses and documents for the trial — including any records of President Trump’s call with the leader of Ukraine, and any records relating to the White House decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine.
But his Republican counterpart, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has said he counted 53 votes in favor of his rules, suggesting that any Democratic plan to change them would probably fail.
Mr. Schumer said he wants records of meeting or calls involving John Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser, and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, among others, adding that the president may have been party to some of those communications.
MCCONNELL COUNTS ENOUGH VOTES TO DEFEAT ANY DEMOCRATIC CHANGES TO THE TRIAL RULES.

 11:47 a.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Schumer calls Republican rules for the trial ‘a national disgrace.’
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, criticized the rules the majority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, has proposed for President Trump’s impeachment trial.IMAGE BY CALLA KESSLER/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Senator Chuck Schumer on Tuesday called the Republicans’ plan for President Trump’s trial part of a cover-up and “a national disgrace,” and said he would move to amend to mirror the resolution used for President Bill Clinton as soon as the trial begins at 1 p.m.
Mr. Schumer, the minority leader, was reacting to rules set out by his Republican counterpart, Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, who pledged to run Mr. Trump’s trial in accordance with the organizing resolution used during the Clinton trial, but has instead proposed a much speedier trial that would not include evidence gathered by the House in the trial record.
SCHUMER CALLS REPUBLICAN RULES FOR THE TRIAL ‘A NATIONAL DISGRACE.’

While making the case that abuse of power is an impeachable offense, House impeachment manager Jerry Nadler pointed to statements made by President Trump's staunchest allies — some of whom are on his defense team in the impeachment trial.
For instance, Nadler pointed to Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who will argue against impeaching and removing the president later this week.
In 1998, during President Bill Clinton's impeachment, Dershowitz said of abuse of power, "It certainly doesn't have to be a crime. if you have somebody who completely corrupts the office of the president and who abuses trust and who poses great danger to our liberty, you don't need a technical crime."
Dershowitz now believes abuse of power is not an impeachable offense. He addressed the discrepancy in his views earlier this week, tweeting that he had evaluated his 1998 statements and come to his own conclusion that his more recent opinion is correct.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, has proposed multiple amendments to the rules of the impeachment trial.

 Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

12:02 a.m. Jan. 22, 2020
By Catie Edmondson
Senate turns back amendment over admission of evidence.
The Senate blocked another amendment by Democrats along a 53-to-47 party-line vote, this time with Republicans opposing a measure that would have forced President Trump’s defense team to provide documents that Democrats had sought if the president’s lawyers tried to introduce new evidence into the trial record.
The measure, Democrats insisted, would have prevented the selective admission of evidence by Mr. Trump’s team.

Watch day 2 of opening arguments below:

Schiff lobbies Chief Justice Roberts to rule on questions of executive privilege
Yahoo News
JON WARD AND LUPPE B. LUPPEN Jan 24th 2020

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2020/01/24/schiff-lobbies-chief-justice-roberts-to-rule-on-questions-of-executive-privilege/23908279/

WASHINGTON — Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead House prosecutor, called on Chief Justice John Roberts to expedite rulings on any disputes between Congress and President Trump over witness testimony and documents, if the Senate votes to allow them.
“We have a very capable justice sitting in that Senate chamber empowered by the Senate rules to decide issues of evidence and privilege,” Schiff, the Democratic congressman from California leading the case for impeachment, told reporters prior to the last day of opening arguments for the House impeachment managers.

Republicans have said over the past day or so that one reason to vote against subpoenas for documents and witnesses in the trial is that it would drag out the process too long, because Trump would claim executive privilege and the matter would get bogged down in the courts. 
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is considered one of the key swing votes on the issue of additional evidence, echoed these talking points in comments to reporters on Thursday, faulting the House for not pursuing the matter in the courts and raising doubts that she will vote to authorize Senate subpoenas.

Schiff called the Republicans’ argument “the last refuge of the president’s team’s effort to conceal the evidence from the American people.”

And Schiff publicly lobbied the chief justice, leaning into an argument that Roberts, who is presiding over the trial, can and should weigh in if and when such a showdown between the legislative and executive branches occurs.
But, he said, “what the president’s team fears … is that the justice will in fact apply executive privilege to that very narrow category where it may apply, and here that category may be nowhere at all, because you cannot use executive privilege to hide wrongdoing or criminality or impeachable misconduct.”

As Republicans have pointed out, the president’s lawyers could try to interfere with a decision that goes against them in the Senate by dragging the matter into federal court. Once there, however, they would have a hard time persuading the courts to hear their objections on the merits. 
“There is no review of the presiding officer’s rulings other than by the Senate itself,” the conservative attorney and Trump critic George Conway wrote on Twitter last November. “And everything the Senate does you should assume to be judicially unreviewable.”

Goodman agreed, saying that if the chief justice ruled on the question of executive privilege and Trump’s lawyers tried to appeal that ruling, “the federal courts will turn [the president] away.”
“The only question is how quickly,” he added, noting that even a decision to toss the president out of court could end up winding its way through the appellate courts. 

The ultimate outcome of such an appeal, Goodman said, is likely not in doubt.
“At the end of the day,” he said, “all that litigation ends up at the Supreme Court, where the chief justice who signed the subpoena would be the swing vote. So the result likely would be foreordained.”

Senate Democrats have asked that four new witnesses be called during the impeachment trial: Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff; John Bolton, former national security adviser; Michael Duffey, Office of Management and Budget associate director for national security; and Robert Blair, senior adviser to the acting White House chief of staff. Republicans have warned that those subpoenas would be opposed by the president with claims of executive privilege.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that the executive privilege assertion would not apply to Bolton.
“Mr. Bolton already announced he’d testify if the Senate issued a subpoena,” Schumer told the press. “He’s not in the executive branch. So executive privilege cannot be used against him, because it can’t be used to prevent a witness who’s willing to testify.”

Whether the president can use executive privilege to stop a voluntary witness like Bolton from telling senators all he knows, or whether Schumer’s argument will prevail, is among the key issues that Schiff is publicly lobbying Roberts to decide.

8:15 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Alicia Parlapiano
A sketch artist captures the scene inside the chamber.

Watch: Day 4 of public Trump impeachment hearings (FULL LIVE STREAM)

Republican senators play with fidget spinners while House managers make the case for Trump's removal
Donald Trump at the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos Reuters

10:21 a.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
House managers accuse McConnell of trying to hide Trump’s misconduct.
Representative Adam B. Schiff, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, during preparations for the impeachment trial Monday on Capitol Hill.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times
The House managers on Tuesday morning issued a statement blasting the resolution from Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, setting forth rules for the Senate trial, saying it “deviates sharply from the Clinton precedent — and common sense — in an effort to prevent the full truth of the president’s misconduct from coming to light.”
The statement came just hours ahead of what is expected to be a divisive debate about the resolution, which would accelerate the trial by limiting the time for oral arguments. It also declines to automatically enter the evidence gathered by the House into the official record of the Senate trial.
“A White House-driven and rigged process, with a truncated schedule designed to go late into the night and further conceal the president’s misconduct, is not what the American people expect or deserve,” the managers said in their statement. “There should be a fair trial — fair to the president, yes, but equally important, fair to the American people. Any senator who wants the same, should reject the McConnell resolution.”

Watch LIVE Impeachment Trial of President Donald Trump from US Senate: day three
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Category: News & Politics

With President Trump’s acquittal all but certain, Republican leaders have narrowed their focus to one overriding strategic goal: ensuring that the Senate does not vote in favor of calling new witnesses or allowing in evidence that could prolong the impeachment trial and scramble the ultimate outcome.
In the hallways of the Capitol, Republican senators were trying out at least a half dozen arguments, all of them apparently aimed at a handful of fellow Republicans who have expressed openness to gathering additional evidence. Here’s a look at some of their most common refrains:
A vote for witnesses would surely result in a protracted legal fight to secure testimony, prolonging the trial and paralyzing the government indefinitely
Calling witnesses now would reward the House for rushing its case.

The House impeachment managers have claimed to have all the evidence they need to prove Mr. Trump is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, so why bother with more information?
“The number of times they have made it very clear that they have clear and convincing evidence and that the evidence is all clear and convincing,” said Senator Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota. “Time and time again, they have told us how much they’ve gotten.”
A fight over access to witnesses could force the courts to settle tricky questions about the scope of the president’s executive privilege, which could result in rulings that could weaken the presidency.
“I don’t want to call John Bolton because they could have chosen to call him and they refused to,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. He was referring to House Democrats, who did not subpoena Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser after it became clear he would refuse to appear. “I’m not going to destroy executive privilege, I’m not going to let the House put me in this box,” Mr. Graham added.

Be careful what you wish for.
Some Republicans are playing hardball, threatening to call witnesses pleasing to Mr. Trump, like Hunter Biden or the anonymous whistle-blower whose complaint prompted the impeachment inquiry, that could turn the trial into a circus. The idea, in part, is to send a warning to moderate Republican senators who have signaled they might be open to witnesses that they should not go down that path.

1:06 p.m. Jan. 24,
Republicans urge White House team to issue vigorous defense.
Complaining they were tired of listening to the Democratic impeachment managers repeat the same arguments day after day, and piqued by closing remarks made by Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Republican senators close to President Trump began urging his defense team to mount a vigorous rebuttal focused on the substance of Democrats’ case, not just the process.
Seizing on the House managers’ decision to talk at length about former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son, Hunter Biden, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, called on the White House defense team to “make a compelling case that there is something, based on good government and foreign policy, to look at here.”
Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, said in an interview that he would encourage the president’s lawyers “to clarify some of these videos” of witness testimony “that have been played that are clipped in ways that don’t really tell the whole story.”
“This will be the first time that the president’s story will be able to be told,” Mr. Barrasso said.

President Donald Trump's personal attorney Jay Sekulow, left, walks with White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, right, as they arrive at the Capitol in Washington during the impeachment trial. (AP)

Democrats want to call Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, as a witness.Credit...Pete Marovich for The New York Times

Nadler's committee is in charge of the impeachment process in the House of Representatives and held a hearing last year on the constitutional grounds for a president's impeachment and removal.
On Thursday, he opened for the prosecution by detailing what he described as the "ABC's of high crimes and misdemeanors."
"Abuse of power."
"Betrayal of nation, particularly through foreign entanglements."
"Corruption, particularly corruption of elections."
"The framers believed that any one of these standing alone justified removal from office," Nadler said.
Reminder: Trump was impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Both articles of impeachment relate to the president's efforts to strong-arm Ukraine into launching politically motivated investigations targeting his rival ahead of the 2020 election. Testimony from over a dozen witnesses, as well as Trump's own statements, confirmed that the president and his allies carried out their pressure campaign in Ukraine while withholding nearly $400 million in military aid and a White House meeting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky desperately sought.

Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, voted with Democrats to ask for more time to respond to motions.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Representative Val B. Demings of Florida and the other House impeachment managers will conclude their oral arguments on Friday.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

A sketch artist captures the scene inside the chamber.
Credit...Art Lien for The New York Times
While only government-controlled cameras are allowed in the Senate chamber, there is no rule against reporters bringing in a pad and a pencil.
Art Lien, a courtroom sketch artist, will be observing the impeachment trial from the press gallery and capturing scenes that might not appear on television, including senators catching a few winks during debate.
Mr. Lien has primarily covered the Supreme Court since 1976, but this is not his first impeachment. He drew scenes from President Bill Clinton’s trial in 1999.
READ MOREA SKETCH ARTIST CAPTURES THE SCENE INSIDE THE CHAMBER.

4:41 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
Senate blocks Democrats’ bid to subpoena White House documents.
The Senate voted Tuesday to block a Democratic bid to subpoena White House emails, memos and other documents related to President Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine that is at the heart of the impeachment case against him. The vote was 53 to 47 to table the amendment to the trial rules, with Republicans prevailing.
Mr. Trump’s administration refused to provide the documents — including correspondence among the president and his top national security aides — during the House impeachment inquiry. Democrats argued that the documents are necessary for a fair trial that would hold the president accountable.
Republicans have repeatedly said it was the House’s responsibility to gather all the evidence before sending articles of impeachment to the Senate. But the White House stonewalled every request made by the House investigators.

House impeachment manager Sylvia Garcia took center stage after Jerry Nadler, another impeachment manager, Jerry Nadler, laid out the constitutional groundwork for President Trump's impeachment.
While Nadler's presentation focused on legal and constitutional precedent that supports Trump's removal from office, Garcia zeroed in on the conduct at the center of Trump's impeachment.Specifically, he pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch two investigations:
The first would investigated Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian natural-gas company whose board employed former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, until last year. Trump has accused the elder Biden of engineering the ouster of Viktor Shokin, the Ukrainian prosecutor general who previously investigated Burisma, to protect his son.
Trump's second request was for an investigation into a discredited conspiracy theory suggesting Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 US election to help Democrats and Hillary Clinton's campaign.The president has claimed that he only requested those investigations to target purported corruption in Ukraine.But Garcia highlighted several holes in that defense:
Trump's claim that Biden was acting with corrupt motives holds no merit. He was promoting the US's official position when he called for Shokin's ouster, as well as that of the entire western world, including the International Monetary Fund. Moreover, Shokin's investigation was dormant at the time that Biden demanded his removal.
There is no evidence supporting the theory that Ukraine intervened in the 2016 election. The US intelligence community determined with high confidence in 2017 that the Russian government was responsible for meddling in the election.
Witnesses and experts have also testified that the conspiracy theory about Ukrainian election interference can be traced back to Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.That said, Garcia noted that Trump's words had the desired effect for Putin. She pointed to a statement from Putin on November 20, in which he said, "Thank God nobody is accusing us anymore of interfering in US elections. Now they're accusing Ukraine."

12:37 a.m. Jan. 22, 2020
By Peter Baker
Trump roars back on Twitter.

10:32 a.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
Giuliani says he would testify at the trial if called.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer and a key player in the Ukraine pressure campaign at the heart of the impeachment case, said Monday night that he would happily testify in the Senate trial if called as a witness.
“I wouldn’t mind being called as a witness for a lot of reasons, including being able to reveal the unbelievable amount of corruption that went on between the Democratic Party and Ukraine all throughout the Obama administration,” Mr. Giuliani said on “The Ingraham Angle” program on Fox News.
Mr. Giuliani led a rogue group of people inside and outside the government to push Ukraine to investigate Mr. Trump’s rivals, including former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter. He also orchestrated a smear campaign to oust Marie L. Yovanovitch, the former United States ambassador to Ukraine. There is no evidence that the former vice president did anything improper regarding Ukraine during his time in office.
GIULIANI SAYS HE WOULD TESTIFY AT THE TRIAL IF CALLED.

7:33 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Catie Edmondson
Senate rejects a third bid by Democrats to subpoena records.

As House impeachment manager Adam Schiff highlighted testimony from witnesses who said President Trump's conduct crossed the line, Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee singled out Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council.
After Schiff praised the patriotism of the impeachment witnesses, Blackburn tweeted, "Adam Schiff is hailing Alexander Vindman as an American patriot. How patriotic is it to badmouth and ridicule our great nation in front of Russia, America's greatest enemy?"
It's unclear what Blackburn was referring to. Vindman never "badmouthed" the US to any Russian officials. And during his impeachment testimony, Vindman emphasized his background, military service, and loyalty to the US.

Blackburn isn't the first Republican to accuse Vindman of dual loyalty throughout the impeachment proceedings.
When Vindman, an immigrant whose family fled the former Soviet Union and arrived in the US as refugees 40 years ago, first testified against the president, several Trump allies in Congress and the media suggested Vindman was secretly loyal to Ukraine.
There is no merit to any of those claims, and they drew swift backlash and allegations of racism.

"Everyone except President Trump and his lawyers agree that presidents can be impeached for abuse of power," Nadler said. "The president's position amounts to nothing but self-serving constitutional nonsense, and it is dangerous nonsense at that."
"The President's conduct is wrong. It is illegal. It is dangerous. And it captures the worst fears of our founders and the framers of the Constitution," he added.

Corey Lewandowski testifies at impeachment hearing before congress, live stream

Republican moderates are in the spotlight on Friday as House managers conclude their oral arguments and senators turn to the question of whether to call witnesses and seek new documents in the impeachment trial. All four of the senators opposed Democratic motions for witnesses and documents at the beginning of the trial, but have said they might be open to switching their stances after opening arguments have been completed.
So far, however, none have committed to do so.
Here are the Republican senators to watch:
Mitt Romney of Utah has not said much since the trial started. But earlier, he indicated he would be open to new witnesses, and said he wants to hear from John R. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser.
Susan Collins of Maine is usually a swing vote in the Senate. Facing re-election this year, she is facing brutal blowback in her state for voting to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh for his seat on the Supreme Court. She has strongly suggested that she will ultimately vote to call witnesses. Doing so could help her mend fences with moderate voters she needs to keep her seat.
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is an independent voice in the Senate. She was the only Republican to oppose Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation and has indicated she could be open to having the Senate examine additional evidence in the impeachment case.
Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is retiring after a long career in the Senate. He has not given clear answers to whether he might support additional witnesses and is extremely close with Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader. But Democrats hope his institutionalist impulses might prompt him to be the fourth vote they need.
There has been additional focus on a fifth senator, Cory Gardner of Colorado. Mr. Gardner is a first-term senator who is facing a tough re-election race this year in a politically competitive state. He will need support from independent voters and even some Democrats to win, but Mr. Garnder has so far been mum on the question of witnesses, and has criticized the impeachment inquiry as a politically motivated exercise.

 

1:09 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Carl Hulse
McConnell discourages Democratic attempts to change his rules using an old trick.

6:12 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Carl Hulse
Democrats continue to press their case over Senate rules.
The first party-line defeat, 53 to 47, of a Democratic demand for documents made it clear that Republicans have the votes to hold off Democrats in the impeachment trial for now. So why will Democrats continue to press their case with a series of proposals seemingly destined to lose?
First, Democrats want to show their supporters that they are going to put up a fight and not be dismissed so easily by united Senate Republicans. Democrats have surrendered quickly in the past on other issues and drawn flak from the left.
Second, they want to force Republicans into a series of votes Democrats can then highlight to show the depth of what Democrats will portray as a Republican eagerness to shield President Trump from scrutiny. These votes will no doubt show up in campaign spots this year.
READ MOREDEMOCRATS CONTINUE TO PRESS THEIR CASE OVER SENATE RULES.

WATCH: Trump attorney slams House Democrats’ handling of impeachment | Trump impeachment trial
PBS NewsHour
Published on Jan 21, 2020
Trump attorney Jay Sekulow slammed House managers, who are acting as “prosecutors” during President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, for the way they have handled the impeachment process. “Since the president was sworn into office, there was a desire to see him removed,” Sekulow said as he defended a resolution that would govern the procedures for the trial. The resolution, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed and determines how evidence is presented in the trial, has been the subject of partisan debate. Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives in December on two articles — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate trial will determine whether Trump is convicted of those charges and removed from office or acquitted. For more on who’s who in the Trump impeachment inquiry, read: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics... Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6 Follow us: Facebook: http://www.pbs.org/newshour Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/newshour Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/newshour Snapchat: @pbsnews Subscribe: PBS NewsHour podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts Newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe

With the Senate sergeant-at-arms uttering the proclamation “All persons are commanded to keep silence, on pain of imprisonment,” the 100 senators are now held to a vow of silence and confined to their chairs for the duration of the day’s proceedings.
As Mr. Cipollone and Mr. Schiff began debating Mr. McConnell’s proposed rules, several senators in the chamber began scribbling notes at their desk, some using large white legal pads while others jotted down notes on the backs of small cards. Most of the desks in the chamber were stocked with pens, pencils and binders.
As they listened, some senators fiddled with pens in their hands while others like Senators Jerry Moran, Republican of Kansas, and Bernie Sanders, Democrat of Vermont, folded their hands as they listened.

Representative Zoe Lofgren and Mr. Nadler are two of the longest-serving members of the House. Ms. Lofgren participated in the Nixon and Clinton impeachment inquiries. Here, accompanied by packs of Skittles, the two lawmakers prepared for the trial just a few minutes before it opened at 1 p.m.

On the day that the Senate begins his impeachment trial in earnest, President Trump is 4,000 miles away on a snowy mountain, talking trade and the global economy.
Mr. Trump arrived in Davos, Switzerland, at 2:21 a.m. Tuesday morning to address the World Economic Forum — slipping out of the Washington circus surrounding what he calls the “hoax” taking place in the Capitol.
The president did not mention impeachment in his 30-minute speech to the chief executives, celebrities and heads of state at the Alpine gathering. Instead, in remarks that felt like one of his campaign rallies without the red-meat, he bragged about an economic success in the United States “the likes of which the world has never seen before.”
READ MORETRUMP ESCAPES WASHINGTON FOR SWITZERLAND AND BRAGS ABOUT THE ECONOMY.

10:35 a.m. Jan. 24, 2020 By Michael D. Shear
Clashes inside the Capitol on impeachment, and outside on abortion.

Senator Mitt Romeny, Republican of Utah, on his way out of the Capitol on Thursday night via its subway.

Credit...Calla Kessler/The New York Times

Congress debated the rules of the impeachment trial throughout the night.Credit...T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel, arriving Tuesday on Capitol Hill.Credit...T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

A summary of what happened on day 1 of opening arguments
In this image from video, House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., holds redacted documents as he speaks during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. (Senate Television via AP) Associated Press

The Senate on Wednesday morning rejected a Democratic request to provide more time to respond to any motions that might be made during the trial, voting 52 to 48.
The proposed rules give only two hours on Wednesday to respond to any motions that might be made. House managers asked for 24 hours, a move that would have added a day of delay. White House lawyers argued against the change, saying they were ready to proceed.
Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, voted with Democrats to ask for more time to respond to motions.

10:29 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Catie Edmondson
Senate rejects effort to subpoena documents from the Pentagon.
The Senate again voted on Tuesday to reject a Democratic effort to subpoena documents and communications related to charges against the president in yet another party-line vote, this time over records from the Defense Department.
Democrats are particularly interested in correspondence between the administration’s budget office and the Defense Department. In an August email released by the administration in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, Michael Duffey, a top budget official, wrote to the Defense Department’s acting comptroller and said there was “Clear direction from POTUS to continue to hold” the military aid Congress had appropriated to Ukraine.
It is the fifth Democratic-led amendment the Senate has rejected. Democrats have so far failed to compel the Senate to subpoena documents from the White House, the State Department and the Office of Management and Budget, as well as testimony from the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney.

12:58 a.m. Jan. 22, 2020
By Catie Edmondson
Debate between Nadler and Cipollone grows testy.
As the debate limped into 1 in the morning, the back-and-forth between Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee and an impeachment manager, and Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, grew remarkably testy, as the two men hurled undisguised barbs at each other on the Senate floor.
After Mr. Nadler told Republican senators they showed all the signs of being ready to aid the president’s “cover up” in voting down a measure to compel John R. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser, to testify during the trial, Mr. Cipollone replied with a retort of his own.
“The only one who should be embarrassed, Mr. Nadler, is you, for the way you address this body,” he said. “This is the United States Senate. You’re not in charge here.”
READ MOREDEBATE BETWEEN NADLER AND CIPOLLONE GROWS TESTY.

House impeachment manager Adam Schiff: Trump 'is a president who truly feels that he can do whatever he wants'
2020 World Economic Forum in Davos Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

 12:47 p.m. Jan. 24, 2020 - By Emily Cochrane

​Lamar Alexander says he’s undecided on witnesses.

WATCH LIVE: Chuck Schumer speaks ahead of Trump's impeachment trial
PBS NewsHour

6:32 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
Senate rejects a Democratic push for State Dept. documents.
The Senate blocked a Democratic attempt on Tuesday to subpoena State Department documents, emails and other correspondence for President Trump’s impeachment trial, including records involving Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union. The vote — the second push for documents — was 53 to 47, with the Republican majority prevailing.
Mr. Sondland, a wealthy business executive and Trump donor, told lawmakers that he did not have access to his written records before his testimony in the House impeachment inquiry. Mr. Sondland testified he worked with others to pressure Ukraine “at the express direction of the president” and confirmed that there was a clear “quid pro quo” linking a White House meeting for Ukraine’s president to the investigations Mr. Trump wanted.
The State Department had refused demands by House investigators to turn over documents from Mr. Sondland and other diplomats who testified in the impeachment inquiry. In arguments Tuesday evening, House managers said the documents were essential to fully understand Mr. Trump’s actions. White House lawyers argued that the administration had the right to assert privileges over documents like those from the State Department.

Angus King On Trump impeachment: This Is More Serious Than I Thought |

The 11th Hour | MSNBC
MSNBC
Published on Jan 23, 2020
Maine Independent Sen. Angus King notes that hearing the evidence against Trump in its totality lead him to realize the "powerful" case against the president. Aired on 1/23/2020. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc MSNBC delivers breaking news, in-depth analysis of politics headlines, as well as commentary and informed perspectives. Find video clips and segments from The Rachel Maddow Show, Morning Joe, Meet the Press Daily, The Beat with Ari Melber, Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace, Hardball, All In, Last Word, 11th Hour, and more. Connect with MSNBC Online Visit msnbc.com: http://on.msnbc.com/Readmsnbc Subscribe to MSNBC Newsletter: http://MSNBC.com/NewslettersYouTube Find MSNBC on Facebook: http://on.msnbc.com/Likemsnbc Follow MSNBC on Twitter: http://on.msnbc.com/Followmsnbc Follow MSNBC on Instagram: http://on.msnbc.com/Instamsnbc Angus King On Trump impeachment: This Is More Serious Than I Thought | The 11th Hour | MSNBC

12:42 p.m. Jan. 24, 2020 - By Edward Wong
Pompeo plans to meet with Zelensky next week.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, requested that Democrats bundle their amendments so senators would not have to debate each one for hours given “a certain similarity to all” of the measures.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, responded that he would not force senators to vote on Tuesday night on each amendment he had planned.
“But we will not back off on getting votes on all of these amendments, which we regard as extremely significant,” Mr. Schumer said. Senators are now taking a break, as the two leaders try to determine the floor schedule for the rest of the evening.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week in Bogota, Colombia.Credit...Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

9:05 a.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
Democrats are livid about the proposed trial rules.
The impeachment trial for President Trump will reconvene Tuesday afternoon with a raucous debate over proposed ground rules for the proceedings unveiled Monday night by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader.
Mr. McConnell’s proposal includes the following provisions: (1) House prosecutors and Mr. Trump’s defense team each get 24 hours over two days to argue their cases; (2) evidence collected by the House could be admitted into the record only by a majority vote; and (3) Republicans have the option to make a motion to dismiss the trial before arguments from either side are heard.
Democrats quickly attacked Mr. McConnell’s proposed rules as little more than what they called a “cover up” that would shorten the trial and allow the president’s allies to refuse to admit evidence collected by the House about Mr. Trump’s actions. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, promised to offer a “series of amendments” to alter them.
If it is adopted, Mr. McConnell’s resolution will also provide 16 hours for senators to ask questions after they hear presentations by the House prosecutors and the White House defense team. That would be followed by four hours of debate on whether to seek additional witnesses or other evidence. If no witnesses are called, the Senate would move quickly to deliberation and a final vote on the articles of impeachment.

Trump impeachment: President's lawyers demand immediate acquittal
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51184421
20 January 2020

President Donald Trump's legal team, representing him at his impeachment trial, has demanded that he is immediately acquitted by the Senate.
In a brief submitted on Monday, they called the impeachment "a dangerous perversion" of the constitution.
Meanwhile House impeachment managers submitted their own brief, saying Mr Trump engaged in "corrupt conduct... to cheat in the next election".
Impeachment hearings will begin on Tuesday at 13:00 (18:00 GMT).

Mr Trump is charged with abusing his presidential power by asking Ukraine to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden - and of obstructing Congress as it looked into his conduct.
During the course of the trial, Senators will hear arguments for six hours a day, six days a week. It will be presided over by the US chief justice, John Roberts.
It is only the third time in US history that a president is facing an impeachment trial.

Trump impeachment trial: All you need to know

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50813696
The Trump impeachment story explained
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49800181
Trump impeachment - your questions answered
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50831350

The trial could, in theory, lead to Mr Trump being removed from office. But as a two-thirds majority of 67 votes in the 100-seat Senate is required to convict and oust Mr Trump, and there are only 47 Democrats in the Senate, the president is widely expected to be cleared.
Mr Trump will be at the economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, when his trial opens.

What did the briefs say?
The 171-page brief submitted by Mr Trump's legal team is the first comprehensive defence of the president, ahead of the trial beginning in earnest.
It sets out to undercut the charges against Mr Trump, branding them "frivolous and dangerous" and arguing that they don't constitute either a crime or an impeachable offence.
"House Democrats settled on two flimsy Articles of Impeachment that allege no crime or violation of law whatsoever - much less 'high Crimes and Misdemeanours' as required by the Constitution," it said.
"They do not remotely approach the constitutional threshold for removing a President from office."

.At the same time, an opposing brief from House managers - all Democrats - accused Mr Trump of using his "presidential powers to pressure a vulnerable foreign partner to interfere in our elections for his own benefit"
"In doing so, he jeopardised our national security and our democratic self-governance," it added. "He then used his presidential powers to orchestrate a cover-up unprecedented in the history of our republic."

What are the charges?
First, he's accused of seeking help from Ukraine's government to help himself get re-elected in November.
It is claimed that, during a call with Ukrainain President Volodymyr Zelensky, he held back military aid in exchange for an investigation into Hunter Biden - the son of Mr Trump's political rival, Joe Biden, and a former member of the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma.

The second allegation is that, by refusing to allow White House staff to testify at the first impeachment hearings last year, Mr Trump obstructed Congress.

President Trump denies the charges against him.

Impeachment Briefing: Far From Iowa
January 23, 2020
By Noah Weiland

Welcome back to the Impeachment Briefing. With the trial underway, senators are mostly stuck in Washington for the next few weeks — a predicament for those running for president.

What happened today
Democratic managers continued making opening arguments in the trial, concentrating on the first impeachment article accusing President Trump of abuse of power. The lawmakers incorporated constitutional references, reams of texts and deposition transcripts, and countless video clips to break down how Mr. Trump tried to coerce Ukraine’s president into announcing politically motivated investigations into the Bidens.

Read our full story about the day, some key highlights and an analysis of how the managers are using video of Mr. Trump at the trial.

How Democrats organized their arguments
Like yesterday, the House managers today divided their arguments in thematic ways, with each member taking on different features of Mr. Trump’s Ukraine pressure campaign and applying them to the idea that the president abused his power.

Representative Jerry Nadler began the presentation with an hourlong speech on the constitutional history of impeachment. He argued that the history of the Constitution made it clear that a criminal violation was not necessary to impeach a president, citing past comments from some of Mr. Trump’s firmest allies: Attorney General Bill Barr and Senator Lindsey Graham.

Representative Sylvia Garcia used her time to explain what she called “groundless” corruption accusations against the Bidens. Ms. Garcia’s presentation was aimed at pre-empting Mr. Trump’s lawyers and proving that there was no basis to the assertions that former Vice President Joe Biden had acted corruptly by demanding the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor, or to the president’s claim that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election, which Ms. Garcia said “muddled the waters.”

Representative Adam Schiff explained how he thought Mr. Trump had appropriated Russian propaganda for his pressure campaign. He accused Mr. Trump of weaponizing Russian talking points to help himself, through conspiracy-based investigations that he wanted Ukraine’s president to announce. “The Russians not only got him to deflect blame from their interference in our democracy, but they got him to withhold military aid,” Mr. Schiff said. “Now of course, there was this convergence of interest between the Kremlin and the president.”

Representative Hakeem Jeffries displayed logs of text messages and other correspondence involving American diplomats. He sought to show how a back-channel of foreign policy directly influenced Mr. Trump’s communications with Ukraine’s president, capping each sequence with the phrase “this for that,” a reference to what Democrats believe was a quid pro quo — in this case, restoring military aid in exchange for the announcement of Ukrainian investigations into the Bidens.

Behind the scenes with the managers
Our photographer Erin Schaff had exclusive access to the prep meeting that the Democratic managers held this morning in a room off the Senate floor, where they and their staff members prepared for another long day together.

Erin Schaff/The New York Times
Mr. Schiff, Mr. Nadler and Representative Jason Crow listened to Mr. Jeffries, who consulted one of the many binders that the managers have had with them at the trial.
Representative Zoe Lofgren and Mr. Nadler are two of the longest-serving members of the House. Ms. Lofgren participated in the Nixon and Clinton impeachment inquiries. Here, accompanied by packs of Skittles, the two lawmakers prepared for the trial just a few minutes before it opened at 1 p.m.
Representative Val Demings, a former police chief and a member of both the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, argued at the trial today that “this moment is about ensuring that every voter, whether a maid or janitor, whether a nurse, a teacher or a truck driver, whether a doctor or a mechanic, that their vote matters and that American elections are decided by the American people.”

Running for president while considering impeaching one
This week has intertwined the two dominant elements of American politics: the presidential campaign and impeachment. That has made the lives of a few Democratic senators near the top of the 2020 polls — Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar — a little complicated.
My colleague Lisa Lerer, who is covering the presidential race and writes our On Politics newsletter, reported this week on the senators’ competing demands. I asked her about how the trio is coping.
Lisa! It’s so nice to finally have you here. I am all for newsletter cross-pollination. One aspect of the trial we haven’t spent too much time discussing is this group of senators who want to run against the president they’re also hoping to impeach. The Iowa caucuses are just days away. What do they do?
This is a situation where there are no good choices. You absolutely cannot skip the impeachment hearing. And while impeachment is not a topic that comes up a ton at their campaign events, it’s red meat for Democratic primary voters. They expect you to be there every day during the trial.

At the same time, at this point in the campaign, candidates are doing six events in Iowa a day. I talked to David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s former senior adviser, today and he estimated that in 2008, Mr. Obama probably talked to well over 1,000 voters a day there leading up to the caucuses.
I’ve been wondering for days now: Do Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders want to be in D.C.? The White House counsel said on Tuesday that he imagined they wanted to be in Iowa.
This is a historic moment! If you are a senator, this is one of the few moments when you’re really living history, considering how little the Senate seems to be doing these days. I think they sincerely want to be here in Washington. But it’s really a Sophie’s choice.
The days end up being so long for them. If you’re stuck in the trial from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m., the next morning you have to squeeze in Senate and campaign activity, starting early. The schedule will be even more demanding when you fly overnight on Saturday for one day of campaigning in Iowa. Several of them are flying private. On Sunday, we already see they’re packing in events.

You’ve been covering this campaign.

Do you think being trapped in their Senate chairs will actually hurt them politically?

The classic term for this period is “M vs. O”: momentum vs. organizing. The Sanders and Warren people will make the argument that the organization of the campaign has been set in place, and it’s the organization that will carry the day.
But everyone knows Iowans would rather have the star of the show rather than a stand-in. This isn’t like campaigning in California or even New York City. It’s a place where people expect to see you in person, in their living rooms. I spoke to a woman in Iowa today who said she’d seen 19 candidates in person. They want to meet you and touch you and shake your hand.

What are some ways that the senators are making up for their Iowa absences? I saw that Mr. Sanders is having Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stump for him in Iowa.
No one has developed a hologram yet. But they’re doing tele-town halls. They’re sneaking out during dinner and coffee breaks in the trial and calling supporters. Ms. Klobuchar has been going on MSNBC, CNN and multiple local news outlets in New Hampshire and Iowa. They’re doing Twitter takeovers — Ms. Klobuchar’s daughter took over her accounts, since the senators can’t tweet from the Senate chamber during the trial.

At least one of the candidates is trying to stay in campaign shape. On Tuesday, Ms. Warren spent her trial breaks rushing to the restroom, talking to her colleagues and trying to eat food in her hideaway. They had pizza and salad. She only ate the salad, which shows an impressive amount of stress-eating discipline.

Lisa’s newsletter, On Politics, is a daily dispatch about the people and issues shaping the 2020 election. You can subscribe to it here.

What else we’re following
· Mr. Graham said that there would be “a lot of pressure” on him next week to subpoena the Bidens and the whistle-blower whose complaint prompted the impeachment inquiry. But Mr. Graham said he would not “give in to that pressure, because I don’t think it will serve the Senate and the country well.”
· Speaker Nancy Pelosi has closely managed Mr. Trump’s impeachment from the beginning, and she’s not letting up during the Senate trial, even calling Mr. Schiff to check in as she wound her way through Jerusalem en route to a state dinner. Think of her as the eighth impeachment manager, my colleague Nick Fandos writes.
· Two days into the Democrats’ presentation, restlessness has set in for the senators. My colleague Catie Edmondson chronicled the ways that lawmakers were passing the time: by doodling, chewing gum, doing crosswords, playing with Apple Watches (electronics ban be damned) and sneaking into the Senate cloakroom to check their phones. During a lunch break today, Senator Richard Burr passed out fidget spinners for his 52 Republican colleagues.
Impeachment rules allow for only a few fixed cameras to be in the Senate chamber for the trial, giving us an extremely limited visual sense of the proceedings. So to make up for it, our graphics team produced a 3-D model of what the chamber looks like now.

Even the managers have to eat:
Kasie Hunt @Kasie
Spotted in the Senate Carry Out in the basement of the Capitol: Impeachment Manager Jerry Nadler ordering a Meatball  Sub, hold the cheese 2.55 PM 23rd January, 2020

 President Trump’s impeachment trial began with acrimony as lawyers for the president and House members known as impeachment managers clashed in personal and bitter arguments over the rules that will govern the trial.
The Senate voted to block attempts by Democrats to subpoena documents and witnesses for the impeachment trial that the White House has refused to provide to the House investigators. The votes were cast along party lines.
Under the rules, orchestrated by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the House managers and Mr. Trump’s lawyers will each have 24 hours starting Wednesday afternoon to argue their cases for and against the articles of impeachment. Senators will have 16 hours to ask questions, submitted in writing, most likely early next week. After that, the Senate will again consider the matter of whether to subpoena witnesses or documents, at which point a few Republicans have signaled they may be open to doing so.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. early Wednesday morning delivered an extraordinary admonishment of Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, an impeachment manager, and Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, after the two men traded insults in a particularly biting exchange.

Schiff, a Democrat from California who was a prosecutor before being elected to Congress, took to the podium to highlight the reasons that he said prove President Trump's demands that Ukraine launch investigations against his political rivals stemmed from personal interest and not the US's national interest:
Trump only cared about a public announcement of the investigations, rather than the investigations themselves.
He cared only about the "big stuff" as it related to Ukraine. David Holmes, a State Department official who discussed Trump's beliefs with Gordon Sondland, the US's ambassador to the European Union, testified that by "big stuff," Trump meant the Bidens.
The president used his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to carry out the Ukraine pressure campaign, instead of official US foreign policy channels.
The investigations were not part of official US policy, according to State Department official George Kent and several other witnesses.
The investigations were requested outside official channels.
Multiple officials within the administration reported their concerns about Trump's requests, including Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, who listened in on the July 25 phone call when Trump discussed the investigations with Ukraine's president.
Ukrainian officials expressed concerns about the investigations being politically motivated and that pursuing them would drag Ukraine into domestic US politics.
The White House tried to bury records of the July 25 phone call. Vindman testified that John Eisenberg, the NSC's chief lawyer, instructed him not to tell anyone about the call, and that a transcript of it was placed on a top-secret, codeword server typically used to house sensitive information pertaining to US national security.
Trump publicly acknowledged that the investigations he wanted could damage Biden's candidacy.
The president showed no other inclination to combat corruption in Ukraine.

House prosecutors show graphic illustrating how impeachment witnesses agreed Trump's scheme was 'inappropriate' and 'wrong'

​Screenshot via CSPAN/Senate TV

10:25 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Emily Cochrane
Late night of debate takes its toll on the Senate.
With no end in sight for the debate over amendments, senators appeared to be growing more frustrated with the limitations of the trial. As the Senate reconvened, about a third of its members were late to return, straggling into the chamber.
An aide to Senator Cory Booker tweeted a picture of staff aides carrying 10 large pizzas into the Senate — an indication that people were readying for the long night to continue.
LATE NIGHT OF DEBATE TAKES ITS TOLL ON THE SENATE.

House Managers walk to the US Senate to deliver the Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill on Jan. 15, 2020.

Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images

Under the rules, orchestrated by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, the House managers and Mr. Trump’s lawyers will each have 24 hours starting Wednesday afternoonCredit...T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

More registered voters wants witnesses testify in the Donald Trump Impeachment Trial In the US Senate

11:17 a.m. Jan. 24, 2020
By Emily Cochrane
Senators attend briefing on coronavirus ahead of assembling for the trial.
With the impeachment trial set to begin at 1 p.m., senators are attending a bipartisan briefing on coronavirus, with Senator Dan Sullivan, Republican of Alaska, telling reporters he hoped to learn about preventive measures being taken. The virus is spreading and has sickened hundreds, mostly in Asia.
But senators were also stopping to weigh in on impeachment, as reporters, cordoned off behind velvet ropes, shouted questions about witnesses and the length of the Saturday session of the trial.

2:58 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Maggie Haberman
Trump’s team is preparing just in case witnesses like John Bolton are called.
White House lawyers are preparing contingencies for the possibility that witnesses are allowed at the impeachment trial and that John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, will be called, according to people working with President Trump’s legal team.
Objections to Mr. Bolton’s testimony would most likely involve a combination of arguing that portions of it are classified, and then taking that argument to federal court, according to the people working with the Trump team. They anticipate that such a move might go to the Supreme Court.
The prospect of Mr. Bolton testifying has caused alarm at the White House, even as some officials have played down how much direct knowledge he has about the events related Ukraine aid’s being withheld. Mr. Bolton, though his lawyer, has suggested he had additional relevant information pertaining to the Ukraine matter to share. He also said he was willing to testify

GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz praised Democrats' impeachment presentation and skewered Trump's defense as looking like 'an 8th-grade book report'
Sonam Sheth 22nd January 2020
https://www.businessinsider.com/matt-gaetz-trump-impeachment-defense-8th-grade-book-report-2020-1?r=US&IR=T

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of President Donald Trump's most vocal congressional allies, praised House Democrats for the way they presented the case against Trump in his impeachment trial.
The Democrats made their case to the public as if it were "cable news," Gaetz told Politico, commending their use of multimedia during the trial.
Meanwhile, the defense team's case looked like "an eighth-grade book report," Gaetz told Politico. "Actually, no, I take that back," he said, adding that an eighth-grader would know how to use PowerPoint and iPads.
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida is one of President Donald Trump's most vocal defenders in Congress.

He has repeatedly gone to bat for the president and shielded him amid a snowballing impeachment process in which Trump was charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The president is standing trial in the Republican-controlled Senate, which is widely expected to clear him of wrongdoing.

But Gaetz doesn't seem impressed with Trump's defense so far.

After the first day of opening arguments on Wednesday, during which seven House impeachment managers — acting as prosecutors — laid out their case against the president, Gaetz told Politico they presented their case to the public as if it were "cable news," and he praised their use of multimedia.

Meanwhile, the defense team's case looked like "an eighth-grade book report," Gaetz told Politico. "Actually, no, I take that back," he said, adding that an eighth-grader would know how to use PowerPoint and iPads.

Other Republican lawmakers also offered grudging praise of the Democrats' performance.
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told reporters during the first day of the prosecution's opening arguments that the evidence itself was news to many senators.
"Nine out of 10 senators will tell you they haven't read a full transcript of the proceedings in the House," Kennedy said. "And the 10th senator who says he has is lying."

House impeachment managers took center stage again on Thursday for the second day of opening arguments. On Wednesday, they gave senators — and the public — an overview of Trump's months-long scheme to force Ukraine to launch politically motivated investigations targeting his rival while withholding vital military aid and a White House meeting that Ukraine's president desperately sought.
On Thursday, the impeachment managers began laying the constitutional groundwork they said supports Trump's impeachment and removal from office.
Arguments began at 1 p.m. ET and are expected to go until roughly 9:45 p.m. Democrats will get one more day to make opening arguments, after which Trump's defense will get a chance to mount a rebuttal.
SEE ALSO: LIVE: House manager Jerry Nadler says Trump abused his office 'to kneecap political opponents and spread Russian conspiracy theories'
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-impeachment-trial-opening-arguments-day-2-live-updates-2020-1?r=US&IR=T

Democrats launch last bid to break Trump's impeachment firewall
"If you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed,” Adam Schiff argued this week.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/24/trump-impeachment-trial-democrats-arguments-103466
By KYLE CHENEY
01/24/2020

Click here to view the video on Democrats launch last bid to break Trump's impeachment firewall
"If you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed,” Adam Schiff argued this week.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/24/trump-impeachment-trial-democrats-arguments-103466

House Democrats are preparing to rest their impeachment case Friday after one last attempt to soften President Donald Trump’s Republican firewall against his removal from office.
But so far, despite the lofty rhetoric of the House’s lead impeachment prosecutor Rep. Adam Schiff and the wealth of evidence they’ve presented, that wall hasn’t shown many cracks.
Democrats intend to tell their story one more time: Alleging that Trump abused his power by pressuring the Ukrainian government to launch baseless investigations against his Democratic rivals. And when he was caught, they say, he used his power to cover it up and stonewall the investigation.

As they have for two days, Democrats will toggle between exhaustive recitations of the evidence and appeals to senators’ consciences — saving their loftiest and most potent arguments for the primetime audience. They’ll also make one last plea for Senate Republicans to call witnesses in the trial, most prominently acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton. Other witnesses have described both as central players with firsthand knowledge of the events at the heart of the Ukraine scandal.

Ostensibly, Democrats intend to focus their final day of arguments on the charge that Trump obstructed Congress’ investigation of the Ukraine matter. He directed about a dozen high-level witnesses not to cooperate with the House’s probe, including Mulvaney, Bolton and senior officials in the White House budget office. Many of the 17 witnesses who testified before House investigators — including several senior White House and State Department officials — defied Trump’s orders.

Those witnesses provided the backbone of the allegations that Trump pressed Ukraine’s newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, as well as a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, hacked a Democratic Party server in 2016. Those witnesses provided evidence that Trump withheld $391 million in military aid to Ukraine and a White House visit for Zelensky amid Ukraine’s active war against Russian aggression, as part of the alleged pressure campaign.

Schiff made a direct appeal to Republicans at the close of Thursday’s trial session, urging them to vote to remove the president from office even with an election around the corner and Trump’s allies pressuring lawmakers to defeat the impeachment charges. Believing Trump did what Democrats allege but saying that it doesn’t rise to the level of removing him from office isn’t good enough, he argued.
“If you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed,” Schiff said in closing.

If Democrats hope to call any witnesses, they need to convince at least four Republican senators to join them, and their final arguments will likely reflect that effort. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee are seen as the likeliest group, with Alexander — a close ally of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — the linchpin.
Democrats will also reinforce their case that the Senate must demand documents from the White House and State Department that Trump refused to provide. The House’s seven impeachment prosecutors have contended that in some ways they’d even prefer to obtain the documents to witnesses, whose memories might be flawed or influenced by subsequent testimony.

Throughout their testimony, the impeachment managers emphasized holes in the full Ukraine story that could only be filled by specific documents that they know exist but that Trump has withheld from Congress. They include correspondence, like former U.S. envoy to Ukraine Bill Taylor’s cable to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo worrying about the hold on military aid. They also include the notes kept by Trump’s former national security aide Fiona Hill and contacts between Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and senior members of the State Department and White House.

So far, most Republicans have shown no signs of budging. While Romney and Collins are likely to support efforts to obtain additional witness testimony and documents, it remains unclear if two more GOP senators will ultimately vote alongside DemocratsSchiff is all but certain to be Democrats’ closer for a third straight night.
He concluded the first day with a call for senators to “show the courage” that witnesses like Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was the subject of a smear campaign by Trump associates, showed in testifying over the president’s wishes. On the second night, Schiff challenged senators to consider whether any of them doubt that the scheme Democrats allege is really out of character for Trump.

“Does anybody really question whether the president is capable of what he’s charged with? No one is really making the argument, ‘Donald Trump would never do such a thing,’” he said. “Because, of course, we know that he would and of course we know that he did.”

The note that he leaves on Friday is the one that will echo as the White House defense team offers its rebuttal beginning Saturday, a process that could last until Monday or Tuesday next week.. Democrats used a large swath of their time on Thursday to preemptively counter the anticipated Trump defense: that his call to investigate Biden was a good faith request to root out corruption.
Andrew Desiderio contributed to this report.
POLITICO
FILED UNDER: DONALD TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP 2020, IMPEACHMENT,

10:15 a.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Eileen Sullivan
Romney tells constituents not to expect him to support calling witnesses before opening arguments.

Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, speaking to reporters Tuesday on Capitol Hill.Credit...T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times
Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah and former Republican presidential candidate, issued a statement to his constituents on Tuesday, pledging to “do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws.” All senators took that pledge, but any votes were still expected to be along party lines.
Mr. Romney is one of a handful of Republicans who have said they would be open to a vote on whether to call witnesses, something the Democrats have been demanding. In his statement, Mr. Romney said he would not support efforts to hold a vote on whether to call witnesses until after opening arguments are complete, which, under the majority leader Senator Mitch McConnell’s plan could be next week.
On Monday, Mr. Romney said he supported Mr. McConnell’s proposed rules.
READ MOREROMNEY TELLS CONSTITUENTS NOT TO EXPECT HIM TO SUPPORT CALLING WITNESSES BEFORE OPENING ARGUMENTS.

10:52 a.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
Callers urged to flood the Senate switchboard to demand witnesses and evidence.
Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, on Tuesday urged people to flood the Senate switchboard with calls demanding that senators allow new witnesses and evidence to be considered as part of the impeachment trial of President Trump.
“202-224-3121 is the number and ask for witnesses and documents,” Mr. Schatz wrote on Twitter.
The social media request was part of a Democratic effort to attack the trial rules proposed by Republicans as part of a “cover-up” designed to move the impeachment trial to a rapid acquittal of the president.
CALLERS URGED TO FLOOD THE SENATE SWITCHBOARD TO DEMAND WITNESSES AND EVIDENCE

Donald_Trump_2020 World Economic Forum in Davos Jonathan Ernst-Reuters

This undated image released by the House Judiciary Committee from documents provided by Lev Parnas to the committee in the impeachment probe against President Donald Trump, shows a photo of Lev Parnas with Trump in Florida.House Judiciary Committee / via AP

The seven House managers submitted one final written brief at noon on Monday, just an hour before the Senate was set to reconvene as a court of impeachment. The 34-page filing included a point-by-point rebuttal of arguments put forward by President Trump’s lawyers in his defense on Monday, and an appeal to senators to convict him based on the House charges.
“President Trump continues to insist that he has done nothing wrong,” the managers wrote. “President Trump’s view that he cannot be held accountable, except in an election he seeks to fix in his favor, underscores the need for the Senate to exercise its solemn constitutional duty to remove President Trump from office.”
The managers asserted that the view put forth by Mr. Trump’s team that abuse of power is not an impeachable office was not only legally and constitutionally “wrong” but “dangerous.” The Constitution, they argued, does not require that an impeachable offense be a crime, and its framers specifically included the impeachment clause to deal with president’s who put their own interests above the country.

HOUSE MANAGERS FILE A 34-PAGE REBUTTAL OF TRUMP’S DEFENSE.

Jeffrey Toobin on impeachment trial: Trump is winning here
CNN News 

President Trump’s White House lawyers will begin their defense of the president at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, announced at the start of proceedings Friday afternoon.
The early start will give the White House legal team more time to begin making its case on Saturday, though it is not clear whether that will happen. Mr. McConnell said only that he expected the proceeding to go “for several hours” on Saturday. And Jay Sekulow, one of the president’s lawyers, has been cagey about how many hours his team would use to defend Mr. Trump.
One thing is clear: The president would prefer his defense be presented during the week, when more people are watching. In an early morning tweet, Mr. Trump said Saturdays are “Death Valley” for television.

3:58 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
McConnell offers decorum advice to his colleagues on an open microphone.
Moments before the Senate reconvened to debate a Democratic amendment this afternoon, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky offered his colleagues a lesson in decorum, Senate-style.
“I’d like to remind everybody to take their seats and when the chief justice comes in we really should all stand,” Mr. McConnell, the majority leader, told senators. The comment was caught on open microphones and broadcast through the Senate press gallery.
Shortly afterward, the cameras clicked on. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was once again seated at the dais and the senators were in their seats, ready to proceed.

·WATCH: Rep. Doug Collins’ full questioning of committee lawyers | Trump impeachment hearings

Fox News Live: Senate impeachment trial of President Trump Day 3
Fox News
The impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump resumes Thursday, Jan. 23 as Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts presides over the U.S. Senate. The House managers will continue delivering their opening arguments, which are expected to continue through Friday. #FoxNe
Fox News
The impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump resumes Thursday, Jan. 23 as Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts presides over the U.S. Senate. The House managers will continue delivering their opening arguments, which are expected to continue through Friday. #FoxNews

Donald Trump Impeachment _ White House Counsel Pat Cipollone slams ‘outragious’ Adam Schiff

After the Senate voted to block a bid to subpoena White House documents related to President Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine, Democrats tried again, mounting a new push to subpoena documents from the State Department.
That amendment, which is likely to be defeated along party lines, would cover a series of communications the administration has withheld, including messages between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other senior officials that Democrats say go to the heart of what they knew about Mr. Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine.
Representative Val B. Demings of Florida, the first black woman to serve as a House impeachment manager, made her debut speech on the Senate floor, imploring Republicans to support the measure. “We’re talking about a specific, discrete set of materials held by the State Department,” Ms. Demings said.

IMPEACHMENT: Democrats launch last bid to break Trump's impeachment firewall

"If you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed,” Adam Schiff argued this week
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/24/trump-impeachment-trial-democrats-arguments-103466

Live In the Senate 

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/24/trump-impeachment-trial-democrats-arguments-103466

"The fact that they chose professors to speak to millions of Americans, they are not in touch with the viewpoints of millions of Americans," Stefanik, one of eight House GOP lawmakers who are the public face of President Trump's defense, told reporters during a 15-minute break in the trial.
"So I think it helps the president's case that the Democrats continue to put up anti-Trump professors as their key witnesses," Stefanik added.
Stefanik did not elaborate on who — other than professors of constitutional law — she believes would be better equipped to address issues of constitutional law.

House impeachment manager Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the framers believed there were two ways in which a president could abuse his power:
Forbidden acts: Use of official power grossly exceeds constitutional or legal authority.
Corrupt motives: Use of official power for improper personal benefit, while ignoring or injuring the national interest.
Nadler went on to detail how two previous presidents, Andrew Johnson and Richard Nixon, were accused of abusing their power in one or both of these ways.
Based on that precedent, Nadler said, "abuse of power is clearly an impeachable offense under the Constitution. To be honest, this should not be a controversial statement. I find it amazing that the president rejects it. Yet he does."
"He insists that there is no such thing as impeachable abuse of power," Nadler added. "His position is dead wrong. All prior impeachments of high office have always included abuse of power."
Fact check: Abuse of power was one of the charges in draft articles of impeachment against Presidents Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon. But it did not make it into the final charges against Clinton because it wasn't approved by the full House. Nixon, meanwhile, resigned before he was formally impeached. And abuse of power was also not one of the 11 articles of impeachment against Andrew Johnson.

Mr. Schiff, Mr. Nadler and Representative Jason Crow listened to Mr. Jeffries, who consulted one of the many binders that the managers have had with them at the trial.

DONALD TRUMP
Trump’s Senate impeachment trial: Expected order of business 

​NBC News
https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/trump-s-senate-impeachment-trial-expected-order-of-business-77155909859

The White House responded angrily on Tuesday to demands by Democrats that Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel, turn over documents relevant to the Ukraine impeachment inquiry — demands that suggest that Mr. Cipollone is intimately involved in the very inquiry for which he is serving as the president’s top lawyer.
Hogan Gidley, the deputy White House press secretary, issued a blistering statement on behalf of Mr. Trump, who is in Davos, Switzerland, attending the World Economic Forum.
“The Democrats are an utter joke — they have no case, and this latest political stunt proves it,” Mr. Gidley said. “The idea that the counsel to the president has to turn over protected documents and confidential information is ludicrous, and to imply he can’t represent the president of the United States in an impeachment proceeding is completely absurd.”
WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS THE PRESIDENT’S COUNSEL AFTER CALLS FOR HIM TO SHARE DOCUMENTS ABOUT THE UKRAINE MATTER.

Trump Impeachment Trial: Day 3
Global News

12:22 p.m. Jan. 24, 2020
By Nicholas Fandos
The witness at the top of Democrats’ list isn’t Bolton.
As discussion of possible witnesses heats up in the Capitol, there continues to be a widespread misconception about whom precisely Democrats most want to hear from at President Trump’s trial.
While much of the news media is focused on John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Senate Democrats and the House impeachment managers privately say they are more interested in Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff.
Their reasons are pretty simple, but have been obscured somewhat since Mr. Bolton volunteered this month that he would be willing to testify at the trial. Unlike Mr. Bolton, whom witness testimony suggests watched with alarm as the pressure campaign on Ukraine unfolded, Mr. Mulvaney appears to have been intimately involved at every step.
“All of the testimony seems clear that this entire thing was run through Mulvaney,” said Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut. “Mulvaney was the one talking to Trump on a regular basis.”
Speaking to reporters Friday morning, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, called Mr. Mulvaney “the chief cook and bottle washer in this whole evil scheme.”

After the break, lead House impeachment manager Adam Schiff lists 10 reasons to show how Trump sought to extort Ukraine for personal gain
Screenshot via CSPAN/Senate TV

5:31 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Catie Edmondson
Lawmakers debate a Democratic amendment for more documents.

LIVE: House manager Adam Schiff hammers Trump for boxing Ukraine into a corner by abusing his power
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-impeachment-trial-opening-arguments-day-2-live-updates-2020-1?r=US&IR=T
Sonam Sheth 23rd January 2020

Capitol Hill on Day Two of the Impeachment Trial of President Trump Reuters


On Thursday, the Senate launched the second day of opening arguments in President Donald Trump's historic impeachment trial.
House impeachment managers — lawmakers who act as prosecutors in the trial — laid out the constitutional groundwork for impeachment.

Among other things, they discussed legal precedent supporting Trump's removal from office, what constitutes abuse of power, and why the president's conduct rises to the level of an impeachable offense.

Scroll down to follow Insider's live coverage of the trial.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

https://www.businessinsider.com/international?r=US&IR=T

On Thursday, the Senate began the second day of opening arguments in President Donald Trump's historic impeachment trial.

Trump is the third US president to be impeached. The House of Representatives charged him last month with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to his efforts to force Ukraine to pursue politically motivated investigations against his rivals while withholding vital security assistance and a White House meeting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky desperately sought.
Trump's trial officially began last week, and House impeachment managers — lawmakers who act as prosecutors against the president — began presenting their opening arguments on Wednesday.

Read Insider's coverage of day one of opening arguments here.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-impeachment-trial-opening-arguments-live-updates-2020-1?r=US&IR=T

On Thursday, House prosecutors laid out the constitutional groundwork for impeachment. Among other things, they discussed legal precedent supporting Trump's removal from office, what constitutes abuse of power, and why the president's conduct rises to the level of an impeachable offense.

The proceedings began at 1 p.m. ET.
C-SPAN and TV networks are relying on the Senate's live feed of the trial.
C-SPAN is airing the trial at cspan.org.

A recording of President Trump saying “take her out,” in an apparent reference to the American ambassador to Ukraine, Marie L. Yovanovitch, has emerged, ABC News reported on Friday.
According to ABC News, the recording dates to spring 2018, when Mr. Trump and two associates of his private lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani were dining at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
“Get rid of her,” says the voice that appears to be Mr. Trump, according to the ABC report. “Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. O.K.? Do it.”
One of the associates at the dinner, Lev Parnas, who is under federal indictment, said in an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that Mr. Trump ordered Ms. Yovanovitch removed at the dinner. ABC did not air the recording, but it said it had reviewed it.
A new voice recording of Mr. Trump like this could generate more calls from Democrats for additional witnesses to be called in the impeachment trial and for new evidence to be sought. The Senate appears likely to consider next week whether to call more witnesses, with nearly all Republicans opposed. The Senate has long been expected to acquit Mr. Trump.

Representative Adam B. Schiff, the lead House impeachment manager, Friday on Capitol Hill.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

In a significant change, the rules resolution submitted by Senator Mitch McConnell automatically enters the evidence collected by the House impeachment inquiry into the Senate record of the trial, in the same way that a similar resolution treated evidence during the 1999 impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton.
Democrats had railed against a provision in the proposed rules that would not have automatically admitted into the official record the House’s evidence. They warned that Republicans were attempting to conduct a trial with “no evidence” at all.
The change was hand written into the resolution — one of two changes made before it was introduced to the Senate.

House impeachment manager: Trump abused his power 'to kneecap political opponents and spread Russian conspiracy theories'
President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speak during a meeting in New York on September 25, 2019, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Trump Impeachment Trial: Day 4
Global News

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calls out the discrepancy in Republican claims during Trump's impeachment trial
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., talks to reporters after the budget package just passed in the Senate to permit the government to resume borrowing to pay all of its obligations and would remove the prospect of a government shutdown in October, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019. Associated Press/J. Scott Applewhite

Jeff Flake, the former senator from Arizona, said he was not certain whether he would have voted to impeach the president.Credit...Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

WATCH: Schumer refutes Trump legal team’s claims | Trump impeachment trial
PBS NewsHour

DONALD TRUMP
News, Analysis and Opinion from POLITICO
https://www.politico.com/news/donald-trump

Democrats launch last bid to break Trump's impeachment firewall
"If you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed,” Adam Schiff argued this week.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/24/trump-impeachment-trial-democrats-arguments-103466

House Democrats are preparing to rest their impeachment case Friday after one last attempt to soften President Donald Trump’s Republican firewall against his removal from office.
But so far, despite the lofty rhetoric of the House’s lead impeachment prosecutor Rep. Adam Schiff and the wealth of evidence they’ve presented, that wall hasn’t shown many cracks.
Democrats intend to tell their story one more time: Alleging that Trump abused his power by pressuring the Ukrainian government to launch baseless investigations against his Democratic rivals. And when he was caught, they say, he used his power to cover it up and stonewall the investigation.

As they have for two days, Democrats will toggle between exhaustive recitations of the evidence and appeals to senators’ consciences — saving their loftiest and most potent arguments for the primetime audience. They’ll also make one last plea for Senate Republicans to call witnesses in the trial, most prominently acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton. Other witnesses have described both as central players with firsthand knowledge of the events at the heart of the Ukraine scandal.

Ostensibly, Democrats intend to focus their final day of arguments on the charge that Trump obstructed Congress’ investigation of the Ukraine matter. He directed about a dozen high-level witnesses not to cooperate with the House’s probe, including Mulvaney, Bolton and senior officials in the White House budget office. Many of the 17 witnesses who testified before House investigators — including several senior White House and State Department officials — defied Trump’s orders.

Those witnesses provided the backbone of the allegations that Trump pressed Ukraine’s newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, as well as a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, hacked a Democratic Party server in 2016. Those witnesses provided evidence that Trump withheld $391 million in military aid to Ukraine and a White House visit for Zelensky amid Ukraine’s active war against Russian aggression, as part of the alleged pressure campaign.
Schiff made a direct appeal to Republicans at the close of Thursday’s trial session, urging them to vote to remove the president from office even with an election around the corner and Trump’s allies pressuring lawmakers to defeat the impeachment charges. Believing Trump did what Democrats allege but saying that it doesn’t rise to the level of removing him from office isn’t good enough, he argued.
“If you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed,” Schiff said in closing.

If Democrats hope to call any witnesses, they need to convince at least four Republican senators to join them, and their final arguments will likely reflect that effort. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee are seen as the likeliest group, with Alexander — a close ally of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — the linchpin.

Democrats will also reinforce their case that the Senate must demand documents from the White House and State Department that Trump refused to provide. The House’s seven impeachment prosecutors have contended that in some ways they’d even prefer to obtain the documents to witnesses, whose memories might be flawed or influenced by subsequent testimony.
Throughout their testimony, the impeachment managers emphasized holes in the full Ukraine story that could only be filled by specific documents that they know exist but that Trump has withheld from Congress. They include correspondence, like former U.S. envoy to Ukraine Bill Taylor’s cable to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo worrying about the hold on military aid. They also include the notes kept by Trump’s former national security aide Fiona Hill and contacts between Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and senior members of the State Department and White House.

So far, most Republicans have shown no signs of budging. While Romney and Collins are likely to support efforts to obtain additional witness testimony and documents, it remains unclear if two more GOP senators will ultimately vote alongside Democrats to demand more information.
Democratic aides working on the trial say they intend to tailor the final argument toward what they’ve termed the “two juries” — the senators who will decide Trump’s fate, and the American public, whose sentiments may guide them.

Schiff is all but certain to be Democrats’ closer for a third straight night.

He concluded the first day with a call for senators to “show the courage” that witnesses like Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was the subject of a smear campaign by Trump associates, showed in testifying over the president’s wishes. On the second night, Schiff challenged senators to consider whether any of them doubt that the scheme Democrats allege is really out of character for Trump.
“Does anybody really question whether the president is capable of what he’s charged with? No one is really making the argument, ‘Donald Trump would never do such a thing,’” he said. “Because, of course, we know that he would and of course we know that he did.”

The note that he leaves on Friday is the one that will echo as the White House defense team offers its rebuttal beginning Saturday, a process that could last until Monday or Tuesday next week.. Democrats used a large swath of their time on Thursday to preemptively counter the anticipated Trump defense: that his call to investigate Biden was a good faith request to root out corruption.
Andrew Desiderio contributed to this report.
POLITICO
FILED UNDER: DONALD TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP 2020, IMPEACHMENT,

12:32 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Eileen Sullivan
House manager says the president’s trial is ‘not a joyful moment for me.’

1:10 a.m. Jan. 22, 2020
By Catie Edmondson
Roberts admonishes Nadler and Cipollone.

The two people arguing on behalf of Mr. Trump — Jay Sekulow and Pat A. Cipollone — are a contrast in style for a television-focused president. Mr. Cipollone, the low-key White House counsel, has almost no presence on the internet and has barely been photographed since taking on the role. His prominent role on the Senate floor was his first open-to-the-public speaking appearance in a year.
Mr. Sekulow, who helped install Mr. Cipollone in his White House role, has been Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer for nearly three years. Mr. Sekulow is used to talking before an audience, and it showed, as he hammered home points about the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and what he argued was a systematic effort to legally ensnare Mr. Trump.

9:21 a.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
Trump escapes Washington for Switzerland and brags about the economy.

House impeachment manager Jerry Nadler: 'I find it amazing' that Trump thinks abuse of power is not an impeachable offense
Screenshot via CSPAN/Senate TV

1:21 a.m. Jan. 22, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
Senate rejects Democratic bid to ensure votes on witnesses.

Before the Senate opened its session at 1 p.m. ET, several Republican lawmakers allied with President Trump defended him to reporters in the Senate basement.
"We're just making sure that we are paying close attention to the testimony," Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, one of eight House Republicans whom the White House has tapped as being the public face of Trump's defense, told reporters. These lawmakers will not speak during his Senate trial since they aren't part of Trump's official defense team.
But Stefanik said she and the seven other House GOP lawmakers were "making sure that our points are getting out there to the American people."
Stefanik also said the group is working closely with the White House throughout the trial.

While laying out the evidence against the president, Schiff said Trump "is a president who truly feels that he can do whatever he wants."
"That includes coercing an ally to help him cheat in an election," Schiff said, referring to Trump's demands that Ukraine launch politically motivated investigations against his rival ahead of the 2020 election.
"And if he's successful, the election is not a remedy for that," Schiff added. "A remedy in which the President could cheat is no remedy at all, which is why we are here."

9:45 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Catie Edmondson
McConnell requests that Democrats bundle their amendments.

1:42 p.m. Jan. 24, 2020 By Carl Hulse

Schiff’s speech falls flat with some Senate Republicans.

9:29 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Catie Edmondson
Senate rejects bid to subpoena Mick Mulvaney for testimony.

Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic attempt on Tuesday to issue a subpoena summoning Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, to testify in President Trump’s impeachment trial. The 53-to-47 vote, which fell along party lines, was the latest effort by Democrats to force the inclusion of new evidence in the proceeding.
Mr. Mulvaney could still be summoned later under Republicans’ proposed rules, but only after opening arguments and a period in which senators can ask questions of the House managers and president’s lawyers is complete. House Democrats subpoenaed Mr. Mulvaney in the fall during their inquiry, but he defied the order. Any similar attempt by the Senate is likely to set off a legal battle with the White House.
Few witnesses have greater access to Mr. Trump than Mr. Mulvaney, who serves as a White House gatekeeper and helped enforce Mr. Trump’s order over the summer to freeze almost $400 million in military aid for Ukraine as he pressed the country to investigate his political rivals. At one point, Mr. Mulvaney acknowledged on national TV that the two acts were connected, only to later recant his statement.

CNN reported that within the first 20 minutes of House impeachment manager Jerry Nadler's opening arguments, Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina moved his papers to the side and started toying with a blue fidget spinner.
According to CNN, Sens. Tom Cotton and Pat Toomey also had fidget spinners on their desks; Cotton's was purple and Toomey's was white.

The Senate turned back a Democratic effort to subpoena White House budget documents for President Trump’s impeachment trial. The move to table the effort succeeded along party lines, 53 to 47, with Republicans prevailing in the latest in a series of partisan votes to block new evidence demanded by Democrats from coming to light. Republicans had succeeded in tabling two other similar measures.
Democrats had argued that emails among officials at the Office of Management and Budget about the suspension of security aid from Ukraine had already been disclosed through Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. In particular, they noted communications between Michael P. Duffey, the associate director of the agency, and the Defense Department, in which Mr. Duffey requested that the Pentagon “hold off” on additional aid to Ukraine and to keep the information “closely held.”
The Trump administration had refused House attempts to secure emails and other communications among officials in the budget office and the Defense Department.

WATCH LIVE: Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump | January 25
PBS NewsHour

Representative Zoe Lofgren, one of the seven Democratic House impeachment managers, said she was not relishing in her role of prosecuting President Trump.
“It is upsetting that the president has engaged in this behavior,” Ms. Lofgren said Tuesday on CNN. “It’s not a joyful moment for me — far from it.”
Ms. Lofgren and her fellow managers will be arguing Tuesday over the trial rules with Mr. Trump’s defense team.
HOUSE MANAGER SAYS THE PRESIDENT’S TRIAL IS ‘NOT A JOYFUL MOMENT FOR ME.’

After the break, Schiff turned his focus, specifically, to Ukraine's alarm at being perceived as a pawn in US domestic politics.
The California Democrat drew on testimony from Trump administration officials and career foreign service officers, who discussed at length the precarious position Ukraine was in during Trump's pressure campaign.
The military aid and White House meeting that Trump dangled were not only crucial in assisting Ukraine as it fought a hot war with Russia. They would also go a long way in sending the message that the US was fully supportive of Ukraine as it fought off Russian aggression.
"The bottom line is this: what was in the best interest of our country was to help Ukraine," Schiff said. "To give them the military aid to fight one of our greatest adversaries and help promote the rule of law."
He continued: "And what was in President Trump's personal interest was the opposite: to pressure Ukraine to conduct investigations into his 2020 rival to help ensure his re-election. And when what is best for the country and what was best for Donald Trump diverged, President Trump put himself above the best interest of our country."

Trump rails about impeachment trial in tweetstorm
ALLAN SMITH
Jan 23rd 2020 11:58AM
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2020/01/23/trump-rails-about-impeachment-trial-in-tweetstorm/23907381/


President Donald Trump raged against the ongoing Senate impeachment trial in a Thursday morning tweetstorm in which he lamented the process as "unfair" and "corrupt."
"The Democrat House would not give us lawyers, or not one witness, but now demand that the Republican Senate produce the witnesses that the House never sought, or even asked for?" Trump tweeted. "They had their chance but pretended to rush. Most unfair & corrupt hearing in Congressional history!"
Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

The Democrat House would not give us lawyers, or not one witness, but now demand that the Republican Senate produce the witnesses that the House never sought, or even asked for? They had their chance, but pretended to rush. Most unfair & corrupt hearing in Congressional history!
That post, one of eight tweets from Trump within a 20-minute span, contained multiple misleading assertions or falsehoods.
While Trump was denied the ability to have an attorney present during the House Intelligence Committee hearings, a lawyer for House Republicans, Steve Castor was permitted to question witnesses. Additionally, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., invited Trump to have an attorney present for his committee's portion of the investigation, but White House Counsel Pat Cipollone declined the offer.
In total, five witnesses requested by Republicans testified in the proceedings. In the Intelligence Committee investigation, Republican-requested witnesses Tim Morrison, Trump's former top Russia adviser, Kurt Volker, Trump's former special envoy to Ukraine, and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale all testified, though Democrats rejected GOP requests for the whistleblower, former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden and others to testify.
In the Judiciary Committee, GOP witnesses Castor and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley testified.
Regarding Trump's mention of witnesses, former national security adviser John Bolton and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney — two of the witnesses Democrats are clamoring to have testify before the Senate — were sought for testimony by House investigators. The White House ordered them not to comply.

"No matter what you give to the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, it will never be enough!" Trump tweeted Thursday, claiming in another tweet that Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., delivered a presentation Wednesday that "was loaded with lies and misrepresentations."
Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump
No matter what you give to the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, it will never be enough!
81.3K
12:54 PM - Jan 23, 2020

Wednesday marked the first day of opening arguments by the House impeachment managers. The managers outlined their case against Trump, pushed back on his defense and called on the Senate to allow for new witness testimony and to request additional Trump administration documents that have so far been withheld.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is surrounded by the House impeachment managers and committee chairs as she signs the two articles of impeachment of before sending them over to the Senate on Wednesday. Leah Millis / Reuters

McConnell said shortly after the session began that the chamber will take short breaks every two to three hours and, later in the day, break for 30 minutes for dinner.

Rep. Collins explodes, gets standing ovation in impeachment debate

Even as the Senate geared up for the third day hearing from prosecutors in the impeachment trial, a different kind of political clash was gathering outside the Capitol.
People attending the annual March for Life — and counterprotesters who support abortion rights — were already arriving Friday morning for an event that is expected to feature an address by President Trump, the first time a sitting president has attended.
People wearing “March for Life” sweatshirts crossed the Capitol grounds on the way to the march, along with others sporting red “TRUMP2020” baseball caps. Nearby, a separate group of counter protesters wearing sweatshirts that said “Literally, no one asked you” chanted “We love abortion, abortion is cool!”
The annual event protesting abortion started after the 1973 Rove v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in the United States.
Other Republican presidents have addressed the gathering by video, but none has attended. Mr. Trump tweeted on Tuesday: “See you on “See you on Friday … Big Crowd!” Friday…Big Crowd!”

1:18 p.m. Jan. 24, 2020 By Nicholas Fandos and Catie Edmondson
Here’s how Republicans are fending off witnesses.

1:30 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
White House defends the president’s counsel after calls for him to share documents about the Ukraine matter.

President Trump, who was overseas at an economic forum, remained uncharacteristically quiet during the first 11 hours of the trial on Tuesday. But as the proceedings reached midnight in Washington, and 6 a.m. in Davos, Switzerland, where the president was, his Twitter feed roared back to life.
From the snowy Alps, Mr. Trump began blitzing out messages at a frenzied pace, reposting tweets, one after another, from Republican allies and friendly commentators in the news media defending him and attacking the House managers, aiming arrows at the trial half a world away.
He pushed out more than 40 tweets in as many minutes, recirculating messages asserting that he did nothing wrong and accusing Democrats of lying about him and depriving him of due process. Among those that he reposted was one from his son Donald Trump Jr. assailing one of the House managers, Representative Adam B. Schiff, saying, “this clown has 0 credibility!”

WATCH: All the key moments from Gordon Sondland's Trump impeachment hearing in 15 minutes (Day 4)

1:41 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
Last-minute rule change allows cases to be presented over 3 days, not 2.
Republicans made last-minute changes in their proposed organizing resolution for the impeachment trial after fierce attacks from Democrats that the proposed rules were unfair and part of an attempted “cover-up” of President Trump’s actions.
The initial proposal, unveiled by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, had set aside 24 hours for each side to argue the case — but said they had to complete the arguments in two days. Democrats said that would most likely force the debate well into the wee hours of the morning, when few Americans were watching.
When the resolution was read, however, the two-day limit was changed to three days. That would extend the length of the trial by allowing each side to spread their arguments over more, but shorter days.
LAST-MINUTE RULE CHANGE ALLOWS CASES TO BE PRESENTED OVER 3 DAYS, NOT 2.

Representative Adam B. Schiff, the lead impeachment manager, gave an impassioned speech urging senators to convict and remove President Trump.IMAGE BY ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES

11:19 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Catie Edmondson
Senate blocks push to hear from 2 administration officials.

House impeachment manager Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, details the 'ABCs of high crimes and misdemeanors'
Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) questions former Special Counsel Robert Mueller as he testifies about his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in the Rayburn House Office Building July 24, 2019 in Washington, DC Win McNamee/Getty Images

President Trump speaking to reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday.Credit...Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times

Senator Lamar Alexander, one of four Republicans who have signaled an openness to calling witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial, said on Friday that he wouldn’t make up his mind on the matter until after senators had had a chance to question House Democratic impeachment managers and the president’s team.
The Democratic prosecutors are scheduled to complete their oral arguments against Mr. Trump on Friday, and the president’s lawyers are slated to begin up to 24 hours of his defense as early as Saturday. Under trial rules adopted this week, those presentations will be followed by a question-and-answer period for senators.
“After all of that, I think the question is, do we need more evidence,” Mr. Alexander said on his way into a briefing on Capitol Hill. “Do we need to hear witnesses? Do we need more documents? And I think that question can only be answered then.”
Mr. Alexander, who is retiring from the Senate, is regarded as a potential defector on the question of witnesses who might feel compelled by his reverence for the institution to press for a more thorough airing of evidence in the impeachment trial.
But on Friday, he suggested he may have heard as much as he needs to.
“As the House managers have said many times, they’ve presented us with a mountain of overwhelming evidence, so we have a lot to consider already,” Mr. Alexander told reporters.

CAPITOL HILL
Trump impeachment trial:
key moments of day one
Guardian News
Published on Jan 21, 2020
Donald Trump's impeachment trial began in the US Senate, with Democrats pushing back against the rules set out by the Republican-held senate. Democrats accused Republicans of covering up for the president as their amendments to trial proceedings were voted down repeatedly Subscribe to Guardian News on YouTube ► http://bit.ly/guardianwiressub Trump impeachment: senators kill Democratic efforts to subpoena more evidence ► https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/l... Support the Guardian ► https://support.theguardian.com/contr... Today in Focus podcast ► https://www.theguardian.com/news/seri... The Guardian YouTube network: The Guardian ► http://www.youtube.com/theguardian Owen Jones talks ► http://bit.ly/subsowenjones Guardian Football ► http://is.gd/guardianfootball Guardian Sport ► http://bit.ly/GDNsport Guardian Culture ► http://is.gd/guardianculture
CategoryNews & Politics

Donald Trump's lawyers launch defence on fifth day of senate impeachment trial – watch live
Guardian News

President Trump's Impeachment Trial Begins
Jimmy Fallon Tonight
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Published on Jan 22, 2020
Jimmy Fallon's monologue from Tuesday, January 21. Subscribe NOW to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: http://bit.ly/1nwT1aN Watch The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Weeknights 11:35/10:35c Get more The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: https://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show JIMMY FALLON ON SOCIAL Follow Jimmy: http://Twitter.com/JimmyFallon Like Jimmy: https://Facebook.com/JimmyFallon Follow Jimmy: https://www.instagram.com/jimmyfallon/ THE TONIGHT SHOW ON SOCIAL Follow The Tonight Show: http://Twitter.com/FallonTonight Like The Tonight Show: https://Facebook.com/FallonTonight Follow The Tonight Show: https://www.instagram.com/fallontonight/ Tonight Show Tumblr: http://fallontonight.tumblr.com The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon features hilarious highlights from the show, including comedy sketches, music parodies, celebrity interviews, ridiculous games, and, of course, Jimmy's Thank You Notes and hashtags! You'll also find behind the scenes videos and other great web exclusives. GET MORE NBC NBC YouTube: http://bit.ly/1dM1qBH Like NBC: http://Facebook.com/NBC Follow NBC: http://Twitter.com/NBC NBC Instagram: http://instagram.com/nbctv NBC Tumblr: http://nbctv.tumblr.com/ President Trump's Impeachment Trial Begins http://www.youtube.com/fallontonight #FallonTonight #JimmyFallon
Category: Comedy

Sekulow is one of several attorneys on Trump's defense team. They have consistently argued that the president's actions are not impeachable, that he did nothing wrong, and that his impeachment is "constitutionally invalid." 
They will begin their opening arguments on Saturday.

Wikipedia Exposed Media - WEM www.wikipediaexposed.org

FREEDOM TO PROVIDE FACTS, INFORMATION, OPINION AND DEBATE WIKIPEDIA EXPOSED MEDIA - TRUTHFUL NEWS MEDIA, ENCOURAGE OPEN DEBATE

IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY
Trump lawyer dismisses new evidence, including photos of the president with Lev Parnas
This undated image released by the House Judiciary Committee from documents provided by Lev Parnas to the committee in the impeachment probe against President Donald Trump, shows a photo of Lev Parnas with Trump in Florida.House Judiciary Committee / via AP
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/trump-lawyer-dismisses-new-evidence-including-photos-president-lev-parnas-n1118331
Jan. 18, 2020
By Katie Primm

Less than 12 hours after the White House announced President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial defense team, new questions have emerged about connections between some of his lawyers and figures at the center of the Ukraine investigation.
A document dump from the House Judiciary Committee overnight Friday included more information about Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, who is currently under federal indictment for his alleged role in the political pressure campaign in Ukraine.
The released documents included photos of Parnas with President Trump as well as shots of him with Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general who is among the lawyers on the president's impeachment team.

Trump has repeatedly said he does not know Parnas.
Bondi, in an interview on NBC's "TODAY" on Saturday morning, dismissed the photos.
“Clearly, Lev Parnas liked to take pictures with a lot of people,” she said. "He showed up at events pretty much everywhere where Republicans were.”

The Judiciary Committee's release also included information obtained by the FBI when they searched Parnas’ electronic devices. According to his electronic calendar, Parnas had a breakfast meeting scheduled with Trump in September, just days before Parnas was arrested.
“I don’t know what that matters, what they’re planning on doing with it,” Bondi said when asked about how apparent evidence of the president’s relationship with Parnas might figure into Democrats' strategy at the trial. “We’re going to stick to the facts and stick to the law in this case.”

Besides questions about possible connections of Parnas to the president and Bondi, another person on Trump's defense team drawing attention is Kenneth Starr, who in the 1990s oversaw investigations into President Bill Clinton that led to his impeachment. At that time, Trump called Starr a “lunatic” and a “disaster.”
Asked about Trump's prior comments on Starr, Bondi said, “Clearly he does not think this now.”
“Ken Starr knows what he’s doing," she said. "He has experience in this field.”
Bondi also addressed the question of whether new witnesses might be called at the Senate trial, which is set to begin on Tuesday.

“If they want to force a witness to be called, that’s going to be discussed,” Bondi said.

House impeachment manager Jerry Nadler: Trump's position is 'nothing but self-serving constitutional nonsense'
Rep. Jerry Nadler Screenshot via C-SPAN

Republican senators blocked a Democratic amendment on Tuesday that would have subpoenaed Michael P. Duffey, a White House budget office official, and Robert B. Blair, a top adviser to the White House chief of staff, who was closely involved in the decision over the summer to freeze almost $400 million in military aid for Ukraine. The party-line vote, 53 to 47, stymied the latest attempt by Democrats to guarantee witness testimony as part of the trial.
Mr. Blair defied a subpoena from House impeachment investigators in the fall, but news reports since then have suggested he would be a valuable witness. He helped enact Mr. Trump’s order on the aid freeze, and he listened in real time to a July 25 phone call between President Trump and the leader of Ukraine that is at the center of the case. “Expect Congress to become unhinged,” Mr. Blair warned in one email reported by The New York Times, anticipating the reaction if the White House blocked the aid, which had been approved by Congress.
Mr. Duffey is a Trump appointee who played a notable role in enforcing the president’s freeze over the summer on the military aid for Ukraine. Career nonpartisan government officials testified that his involvement was unusual, but under White House orders, Mr. Duffey defied a subpoena from House investigators for testimony.

Senator Mitch McConnell employed one of the oldest tricks in the Senate book to discourage Democrats from mounting time-consuming challenges to his proposed ground rules for the impeachment trial. As the Senate opened Tuesday, Mr. McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and majority leader warned senators that they should be prepared to stay as long as possible to enact a resolution setting the parameters for the trial.
That is a not-so-veiled threat to stay into the wee hours if Democrats offer a long string of proposed changes. Senators are already unhappy with having to sit quietly at their desks with no phones or computers.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, had already said he would propose a series of changes but promised he would not be dilatory.

Watch Live: Impeachment Trial of President Donald Trump day five ABN News Live Coverage
ABC News

Comments:

snowline West
“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” - Albert Einstein

Danny Sullivan Music
This election year is gonna be interesting...

Randon Ceccoli
Im glad our real problems are on vacation so we dont have to worry about them

WXOF
"The Year of the Rat" oh, snap - in China Too!

​Dale Press
Let me be clear, I oppose Hillary Clinton and I DO NOT WANT TO KILL MYSELF!!!!

The One
Trump shouldn’t get impeached

​sierra lynn
CUT!!!! CUT!!!! CUT!!!!

Trump Impeachment Trial: Day 1
Global News
Kelli Votel
The magic of YouTube is I woke up, located where I’d fallen asleep & kept on watching. In its Entirety
ThothHeart Maat
Can someone tell me when they actually talked about trial rules?
Dan
Surprise the comments are open. Global News and CBC getting ratioed LOL
John Doe
This trial is a joke. Couldn’t win the election, couldn’t tie him to the Russians, so they try to impeach him with no reason why. A JOKE.
Jack Richardson
KAG - Kremlin Asset Governs
Bloo Rhapsody
Wow the defense sure is actually awful.
Bloo Rhapsody
Wow the defense sure is actually awful.
Brandon Sikes
i wonder if this account reveives ad revenue for this, because they shouldn't
John Doe
Starts at 24:13
Jeff Link
Gotta love all of the setup for the Senate and the blow through process of the House.
Eddie Moreno
ALL WITNESSES, ALL EVIDENCE! This is a Trail! How Dare the GOP try to burn the Constitution and the rule of law. BOOOOOOOOOOO Traitors and heretics all of them.
Lisa S-F
Mitch is absurdly biased and not even attempting to hide it. Yuck
Real Economy
Too many overpaid cops.
강주효
1day white house 25 in next 1 day sign ok
Real Economy
Nice to see something live without the html5 problems.
Alicia Salerno
Yup
kevscranes
This whole saga is a total waste of money and time by people who have never done an honest days work in their self serving parasitic lives ...
middy vanhoose
o no here it comes more lies
Kelli Votel
I’m proud of those who fight tirelessly to defend our constitution and prevent dictatorship. Thank You, Patriots! God Bless America
ThothHeart Maat
When you want a subpoena you have to know what you're looking for and why you're looking for it.. this isn't the discovery phase.. you can't get a warrant saying I don't know what's in it but i want it... You're not allowed to do a fishing expedition during a trial.. soooo objection... To all your amendments.. the same goes for witnesses. You have to know what you're looking for. You can't just say oh hey let's ask them some questions and see what they say.. you have to formulate clear reasonings and establish standing and get it entered properly.. or not I guess because it's just the Senate and there's no such thing as rules or procedure here..
Adrienne Laroche
Wait now.... What do you mean a fishing expedition? The dems know who they want to have testify and what documents they want specifically. Where is the fishing?
ThothHeart Maat
@Adrienne Laroche they said they don't know what the witnesses could know or what's in the documents. That they think we should know the truth whatever it is. They said it on live TV. That means they are using this trial to do an investigation rather than prosecute a case.
Adrienne Laroche
@ThothHeart Maat They tried to get the documents during the investigation and Trump wouldn't turn them over. Ignoring subpoenas and advising his staff to do the same. They know what ones they want. They subpoena exact documents and witnesses and were refused. Of course they don't know what the witnesses would know, that's why they were subpoenaed during the investigation. Now they want the Senate to force them to turn over the documents and witnesses. It's the only way to know what's in them or what the witness may say.
ThothHeart Maat
@Adrienne Laroche well they didn't follow the correct process. That's why they were refused.
Adrienne Laroche
@ThothHeart Maat How's that? They did what they were supposed to do. Trump refused cause he's a man child with something to hide. What is it you think the House did wrong during the impeachment inquiry? I don't recall hearing or reading anything about that? Must be something Trump said.
ThothHeart Maat
@Adrienne Laroche the house has to vote on the subpoenas but they just created an impeachment committee and issued them. Not the right process. Invalid.
Laurie Jo
@ThothHeart Maat No way. Democrats did what they had to to get the witnesses. Trump and his staff did everything they could to block them...hence the obstruction part of this trial.
ThothHeart Maat
@Laurie Jo I guess we'll see. Or won't if they dont know how to admit evidence..
Real Economy
Ban high heels. Don't ruin the floors.
Maureen Davis
Cuz dirty sneakers don't ruin floors?

The House managers completed their opening arguments in the case against President Trump. They described his efforts to cover up his conduct and called his pressure campaign on Ukraine as a threat to national security.
This was the last chance for Democrats to persuade Republicans to pursue additional witnesses and documents. There are a handful of Republicans who could break with their party, but the Republican-controlled Senate appeared unmoved.
The president has not appeared in the Capitol, but he looms large because the managers are using Mr. Trump’s own words against him. Mr. Trump spoke at an anti-abortion rally on the National Mall just afternoon, and his lawyers plan to begin their defense on Saturday morning, using only a few hours of the day.

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a Democratic effort to subpoena John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, for testimony in President Trump’s impeachment trial. The vote fell along party lines, with the Republican majority prevailing.
At least one Republican, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, has indicated that he might eventually support summoning Mr. Bolton, but only after opening arguments and senators have a chance to question each side. Others have expressed openness to doing so.
Mr. Bolton said this month that he would comply with a Senate subpoena if he received one, and other witnesses told House investigators that Mr. Bolton was deeply troubled by Mr. Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. But with the White House prepared to try to sue in federal court to restrain him from speaking, any subpoena could set off a messy and protracted legal fight over whether he could answer questions in the trial.

​Alan Dershowitz✔@AlanDersh
(1 of 3)To the extent there are inconsistencies between my current position and what I said 22 years ago, I am correct today. During the Clinton impeachment, the issue was not whether a technical crime was required, because he was charged with perjury.
9:03 PM - Jan 21, 2020
Nadler also highlighted a June 2018 memo that Attorney General William Barr wrote before he was nominated to lead the Justice Department under Trump.
"Presidents cannot be indicted or criminally investigated," Barr's memo said. "But that's okay, because they can be impeached. That's the safeguard."
Barr added: "The fact that President is answerable for any abuses of discretion and is ultimately subject to the judgment of Congress through the impeachment process means that the President is not the judge in his own cause."
Nadler then cited the court case Nixon v. Harlow, which found that "the remedy of impeachment demonstrates that the president remains accountable under law for his misdeeds in office."

The Senate early Wednesday morning rejected a Democratic effort to guarantee that senators will eventually take a vote on specific requests for witnesses, and hear from them on the floor of the Senate.
Under the rules proposed by Republicans, senators will eventually debate whether to consider subpoenaing witnesses. But only if Democrats win that vote would votes be taken calling specific people. And even then, the rules assert that any witnesses agreed to will be deposed privately before yet another vote on whether they can testify publicly in the Senate.
The Democratic amendment to make the changes failed by a vote of 53 to 47.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the lead impeachment manager, gave a broad overview of the timeline of the president's pressure campaign in Ukraine.
It centers around a July 25 phone call Trump had with Zelensky, during which he repeatedly pressed Zelensky to launch investigations targeting former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, over the latter's employment on the board of the Ukrainian natural-gas company Burisma Holdings.
Trump also asked Zelensky to look into a discredited conspiracy theory started by Russia suggesting Ukraine interfered in the 2016 US election.
But as Schiff and the six other impeachment managers detailed, the phone call was just one data point in what turned out to be a months-long effort by Trump and his allies to leverage US foreign policy to bully Ukraine into acceding to the president's personal, political demands.

SEE ALSO: House prosecutors wrap day one of opening arguments in Trump's impeachment trial by imploring the Senate to choose country over party
More: Trump impeachment trump senate trial opening arguments Ukraine 

Friday is the moment of truth for House managers in the Senate impeachment trial as they seek to convince a handful of Republican lawmakers to support their demand for additional witnesses and documentary evidence. So far, there is little apparent evidence that they will succeed.
On Thursday, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the top Senate Democrat, declined to say he was optimistic but said he still had “hope.”
Democrats have accused Republicans of abetting a cover-up by Mr. Trump by refusing to subpoena documents that the Trump administration did not hand over during their inquiry and by refusing to demand testimony from additional witnesses like John R. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser, and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff.
In their third day presenting their case, the managers will focus on the second article of impeachment, in which they accuse Mr. Trump of obstructing Congress by blocking witnesses and documents from being provided to the House impeachment inquiry.
For Democrats, that argument — which is expected to once again take the Senate trial late into the evening — could be the ideal backdrop to pressure potentially wavering Republicans who might be willing to break from their party to support the Democratic demands for witnesses.
But the potential targets, a handful of Republican senators, are staying quiet for now. They include Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump’s White House lawyers will take over for up to three days as they present their defense. Both sides will get an additional two hours to sum up their argument on the issue of witnesses and documents sometime next week. But for the House managers, Friday’s presentation may be their last, best hope.

During a 15-minute break after the first portion of Thursday's opening arguments, several Republican senators talked to reporters about their take on the trial so far.
Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, an ardent supporter of President Trump, said he'd seen no evidence to change his position. He also suggested that former Vice President Joe Biden, not Trump, had engaged in wrongdoing, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri struck a similar tone and focused on the Bidens instead of Trump, accusing them of corruption.
"The House managers have worked themselves into the awkward position of trying to have it both ways," Hawley said.

Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, at the White House last week.Credit...Pete Marovich for The New York Times

Marie L. Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine, preparing to testify before Congress last November.

Credit...Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times

There was a familiar face in the gallery overlooking the Senate chamber on Tuesday: Jeff Flake, the former senator from Arizona who decided not to seek re-election in 2018 after concluding that there was no room in the Republican Party for a critic of President Trump.
Chatting with reporters, Mr. Flake — who also served in the House — said he was not certain whether he would have voted to impeach the president: Good arguments can be made, he said, both for or against the idea that the president’s campaign to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals rose to the level of an impeachable offense.
But one argument that cannot be made, he said, is that Mr. Trump did nothing wrong.
FLAKE SAYS ARGUMENT THAT PRESIDENT ‘DID NO WRONG’ PAINS HIM.

Opinion | Trump's impeachment defense could create a dangerous precedent
Washington Post

8:29 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Catie Edmondson
Democrats push to hear witness testimony from Mulvaney.

12:15 p.m. Jan. 24, 2020 - By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Schiff’s closing argument resonates on Twitter.

12:43 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
Senators will not be able to speak during the trial.
Regular viewers of Senate proceedings will likely notice something very odd when debate begins: Senators will not be doing the debating themselves.
Because the rules of the trial require senators to remain silent at virtually all times, the motions made by either side will be debated by the House managers and the White House lawyers instead. That leaves the normally loquacious senators in quite a bind. No matter how strongly they feel about their motions, there will be no fist-pounding or stirring speeches in an attempt to convince their colleagues.
At least, not by them.

1:23 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Partisanship reigns outside the Senate chamber.
Even before the trial got underway Tuesday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee posted a blistering pro-Trump video on Twitter painting Democrats as an impeachment-hungry mob — a sign that naked partisanship still reigns outside the chamber.
“An angry mob is at the gate, but the United States Senate has the watch,” the announcer intoned gravely, adding, “The sham is over. A fair trial starts now.”
The 2 minute and 17 second video opens with the voices of those shocked by Mr. Trump’s victory in 2016. When Mr. Trump was sworn in, “the left lost it,” the announcer said, as images of a black limousine on fire and riots in the street flickered across the screen.
PARTISANSHIP REIGNS OUTSIDE THE SENATE CHAMBER.

Trump defense attorney Jay Sekulow: Trump's actions are not impeachable 'no matter what school of thought you're on'
Trump attorney Jay Sekulow. Screenshot via CSPAN

12:56 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Nicholas Fandos
House managers file a 34-page rebuttal of Trump’s defense.

What Happens In The Impeachment Trial Today? | Morning Joe | MSNBC

The Trump Impeachment
Live Report 24TH January 2020
Friday’s Highlights
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/impeachment-trial-live-01-24/managers-defense-white-house#live-blog-list?te=1&nl=impeachment-briefing&emc=edit_ib_20200125?campaign_id=140&instance_id=15459&segment_id=20640&user_id=c5ed3af7cf6db33805e8b866043ab876®i_id=10148370220200125
Jan. 24, 2020
Day in Impeachment: Democrats Outline Trump’s Efforts to Cover Up Conduct

7:56 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
Senators recess for dinner.
Senators in President Trump’s impeachment trial have taken a dinner break, briefly putting on pause the acrimonious debate about the rules of the trial. The trial — only the third in history — has been underway for nearly seven hours as Democrats and Republicans wrangled over whether the Senate should seek additional documents and witnesses before both sides present their arguments.
So far, Democrats have failed to compel the Senate to subpoena documents from the White House, the State Department and the Office of Management and Budget. When the senators return, they will resume debate on a Democratic motion to subpoena Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff.
At 7:30 p.m., Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, announced a 30-minute break for senators to get dinner, though the lawmakers are likely to take longer than that to return.

House impeachment manager Jerry Nadler takes aim at Trump's current defenders who contradicted themselves
Attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz discusses allegations of sex with an underage girl levelled against him, during an interview at his home in Miami Beach January 5, 2015. REUTERS/Andrew Innerarity

Trump impeachment: trial begins in US Senate – watch live
Guardian News
Comments:
Jim Fromearth
Better than The Super Bowl!
#TeaWithSu Lorito-Schindler
27:03 Close of business. Recess ends, call of chair 4

7:05. Defense opens, ends 58:56. Summary.

1:46:00 Defense presents 1:56:35 

2:10:30 Dem Leader, Rules

2:18:40 Break to 2:45:55 

Shiff on O'Connell, executive privilege,
 
D Sarg
Can't wait for Crooked Bidens to take stand.
Torin Nash
this is not a question of how evil a person can be, its a question of, how evil will we let people of power be
Gmmonica godsgotthis
Anyone who rolls back our Global warming efforts to stop this madness doesn't not have our back or the young people's best interest
W O L F I E
Trump is in centrol soooo, case closed
Kenneth Meisner
whats going on there. i have no idea. can someone give a short explanation. is Trump taking over and executing order 66?
paul
jah Donald Trump is not an Illuminati figure so he is not in their street
Bill Lunebach
DARKEST WHEN DURHAM BRINGS FORWARD CHARGES AND UNSEALS INDICTMENTS OF THE DEMS AND DEEP STATE.PAIN AND JUSTICE IS COMING.
falconeaterf15
Another day without tax returns. What a two bit crook.
25lipsey
Game of Thrones
Stephen Oz Oswald
JAMES EARL JONES? LUKE I AM UR FATHER
Asad Ali
All i can say is" the venom of KGB doesn't work usa period"
Stratan T.
So what are the results?
Gmmonica godsgotthis
If he is not under oath this is a joke and a waste of the tax payers money
Thin Redline
Is this what I watched my buddies die face down in the muck for???
Eve Ihlone
Maybe Donald has brain spurs
DemZ
Why isn't Trump there? Lol
KeepTrying2Understand
Ugh I wish I could see the beginning of the prayer.
Bob Mama
Mumble mumble mumble mumble hate and prey
Barry Stallings
Lord Trump, our lord and savior, blah blah blah
Zach East
Same
Gmmonica godsgotthis
Why isn't Donald Trump being put under oath. This is waste of the taxpayers money if he's not being put under oath

10:14 a.m. Jan. 24, 2020
By The New York Times
Different views from the trial.

The cameras in the Senate are government controlled by the Senate staff, and photographs are not allowed — limiting what viewers can see as lawmakers consider the case against President Trump. To get a more complete picture of the proceedings, here are two alternatives.
A Sketch Artist’s View of the Impeachment Trial
Drawings of the proceedings from inside the Senate chamber, where no photos are allowed.
Jan. 16, 2020
The Senate chamber may be familiar to viewers of
C-SPAN, but the room has undergone some significant changes to accommodate the proceedings.
A 3-D Tour of How the Senate Was Transformed for the Impeachment Trial
An immersive diagram of the storied chamber where President Trump’s trial is taking place — including what you won't see in photos.
Jan. 23, 2020

11:43 a.m. Jan. 24, 2020 By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Whitmer will deliver Democratic State of the Union response.

Trump team begins defense in Senate impeachment trial | Day 5
Fox News

Democrats, looking ahead to President Trump’s State of the Union address, announced on Friday that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan will deliver the Democrats’ response to the president’s speech, scheduled for Feb. 4 — even though his impeachment trial may still be underway.
Representative Veronica Escobar of Texas, who made history as one of the first two Latinas from that state to serve in Congress, will deliver the Spanish-language response to the speech, according to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, who issued a joint statement about the selections.
The two praised Governor Whitmer, a lawyer, educator and former prosecutor, as a get-things-done type of leader, “whether it’s pledging to ‘Fix the Damn Roads’ or investing in climate solutions,” as Mr. Schumer said.
The response to the State of the Union is generally reserved for rising stars in the opposition party, offering a chance for the minority to lay out its own agenda, in contrast to the president.

 1:18 p.m. Jan. 24, 2020 By Michael D. Shear
White House team will begin its defense Saturday morning.

President Trump pushed out more than 40 tweets in as many minutes, recirculating messages asserting that he did nothing wrong and accusing Democrats of lying about him and depriving him of due process.Credit...Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times

House prosecutors played audio from 1999 in which Sen. Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump ally, argued the exact opposite of what he claims today
Alex Brandon/AP

President Trump speaking to reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday.

Credit...Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times

3:43 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Maggie Haberman
Trump’s lawyers are a study in contrasts.

10:07 a.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Eileen Sullivan
Schumer promises a tough fight from Democrats.
Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, speaking at a press conference last week on Capitol Hill.Credit...Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, denounced his Republican counterpart on Tuesday, hours ahead of what is expected to be a marathon debate over the rules for the Senate trial of President Trump.
Mr. Schumer said Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, has proposed a trial with “as little evidence as possible” and conducted in secrecy in “the dead of night.”
“The trial doesn’t even allow the evidence from the House to be let in,” Mr. Schumer said during an interview on CNN.
READ MORESCHUMER PROMISES A TOUGH FIGHT FROM DEMOCRATS.

IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY
Trump forced to take a back seat in his impeachment defense as Senate trial begins
The president — who has often said he views himself as his own best spokesman — will have no choice but to watch, along with the rest of the public.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/trump-forced-take-back-seat-his-impeachment-defense-senate-trial-n1118151
Jan. 19, 2020,
By Shannon Pettypiece

WASHINGTON — In what will be one of the most crucial moments of his presidency, Donald Trump will find himself in an uncomfortable position, taking a back seat as someone else mounts his public defense.
Just days before opening arguments begin in his Senate impeachment trial, the president was still his own most visible and vocal defender.

"I JUST GOT IMPEACHED FOR MAKING A PERFECT PHONE CALL!" he tweeted Thursday. "They're trying to impeach the son of a bitch, can you believe that?" he complained Friday to Louisiana State University's college football champion team during their White House visit. Speaking at the American Farm Bureau Federation's annual convention in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, Trump lamented having been "impeached by these radical left lunatics."
But as the trial begins in earnest on Tuesday, Trump will be handing over the reins for one of the most crucial moments of his presidency to a team of his staunchest cable TV legal defenders, including former independent counsel Ken Starr, the famed defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
After Democrats make their case, they will be given a block of time to lay out Trump's side in a historic scene that will be watched on television by millions. But Trump — who has boasted about not needing a defense team and has often said he views himself as his own best spokesman — will have no choice but to watch along with the rest of the public.

If the House hearings are any indication, the Senate trial should draw millions of viewers, giving Trump's team the opportunity to reach a broader audience than the one he and his allies can get to on Twitter or Fox News. About 13.8 million people watched the first public impeachment hearings in the House, which the White House refused to take part in, according to Nielsen.

Even though Trump will have a hand in shaping what his defenders will say, the somber setting for oral arguments in the Senate won't provide the same freewheeling venue that the president is used to having in a Fox News interview, at a campaign rally or in a one-sided exchange with reporters as a helicopter roars in the background. And while all the members of his team have been solid defenders, none have the same bellicose style or flexibility with the truth as Trump.
But while Trump won't have a visible role in the trial, he isn't expected to sit idly by, and his allies expect that the public relations battle will go well beyond what happens in the Senate chamber.

"The trial doesn't necessarily begin and end when Justice Roberts convenes and dismisses each day's session," said Jason Miller, Trump's former campaign communications adviser, who co-hosts a radio show on impeachment. "The overall public opinion battle will be raging 24 hours a day on the airwaves. That is important to keep in mind."
(Chief Justice John Roberts will preside over the trial.)
But if Trump weighs in, he also risks undermining his own defense. He has done so in the past, as when he acknowledged in a television interview that the firing of FBI Director James Comey was related to the Russia investigation.
Democrats are expected to make their case starting Tuesday, and if the model from President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial in 1999 is followed — and neither side pushes for delays — Trump's team up could come up next weekend.

Trump will have his own counterprogramming lined up for the day the trial is set to begin — even beyond his Twitter feed. He is expected to speak to business executives and world leaders Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and to hold a series of meetings with his foreign counterparts while he is there, creating an opportunity to appear as a president hard at work above the fray of impeachment.

But Trump has often chosen to use his moments on the world stage to attack his domestic political rivals, and he'll have multiple opportunities in Davos. At the NATO meeting of world leaders in London early last month, while seated next to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump called House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff a "maniac" and a "deranged human."

The trial could also stretch into his State of the Union address on Feb. 4, giving the president an uninterrupted prime-time speech before the body debating whether he should be removed from office.
The White House sent a six-page written answer to Congress on Saturday that attacked the process used by House Democrats during the impeachment inquiry and addressed the substance of the articles of impeachment, arguing that they don't include an impeachable offense. The White House plans to send a longer, more detailed brief by Monday.
While the issue of witnesses is yet to be decided, a person close to the legal team said White House is preparing for the possibility that both sides will call witnesses. The legal team is anticipating that White House counsel Pat Cipollone will open the defense, followed by one of Trump's attorneys, Jay Sekulow, who will detail more of the timeline, while Dershowitz and Starr will have "discrete functions" at certain times, the person said.
As the president's legal team gets ready to take center stage, Miller said the smart move for Trump would be to keep his own attacks going, as well.

"If President Trump were to stay quiet, it will be 100 percent negative information flow," Miller said. "It is up to him to get the information out. It should be a combination of pushing a positive message but don't be afraid to call out these House impeachment managers when need be."

Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, last week on Capitol Hill.Credit...T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

Republican senator accuses impeachment witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, an immigrant and war veteran, of dual loyalty

1:54 p.m. Jan. 24, 2020 By Michael D. Shear and Nicholas Fandos

Managers try to rebut expected defense by White House.

As they circle around a now familiar set of facts and their time grows shorter, the Democratic House managers are turning a greater part of their attention to pre-emptively rebut what they expect will be the White House’s arguments.

That’s because they may not have much chance to do so later. Under the rules of the trial, the White House defense will be followed by a short debate on witnesses and documents, with perhaps a chance for short closing statements.

So on Friday, Representative Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado and one of the managers, said the following: “Now since we won’t have an opportunity to respond to the president’s presentation, I want to take a minute to respond to some of the arguments that I expect them to make.”
One of those, he said, was the argument repeatedly made by President Trump and his Republican allies: that the pressure campaign claimed by Democrats must not be true because the security aid for Ukraine was eventually delivered without an announcement of investigations that Mr. Trump had repeatedly sought.
That argument is sure to feature prominently in the White House defense, so early on Friday afternoon, Mr. Crow set out to challenge it before it is even made.
“Regardless of whether the aid was ultimately released, the fact that the hold became public sent a very important signal to Russia that our support was wavering,” he said. “The damage was done.”
He went on to warn senators about the tactics he expected the president’s lawyers to use when they begin their arguments on Saturday.
“You will notice I’m sure that they will ignore significant portions of the evidence will try and cherry pick individual statements here and there to manufacture defenses,” Mr. Crow said. “But don’t be fooled.”​

Representative Adam B. Schiff, chairman of the Intelligence Commitee, and the House impeachment managers held a press conference Tuesday on Capitol Hill.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

1:03 a.m. Jan. 22, 2020
By Nicholas Fandos

​Senate rejects bid to subpoena Bolton for testimony.

Representative Adam B. Schiff’s closing speech Thursday night was drawing acclaim from Democrats for its rousing delivery and pointed depiction of President Trump as untrustworthy and selfish.
But it fell flat with some of its intended audience — Senate Republicans. Multiple senators said they found the remarks offensive and off-putting.
Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 3 Senate Republican, ticked off positive economic indicators from the Trump era and said the president’s record should be decided by the voters, not politicians.
“What we heard from Democrats is they don’t trust the voters,” he said.
Mr. Barrasso also made the point that Democrats were not only trying to oust the president, but also trying to keep his name off the ballot in November — a claim that left some puzzled.
But the Senate could take such a step if it convicted the president. A little-known aspect of impeachment would allow the Senate to take a second vote to disqualify Mr. Trump from holding office again. And unlike the 67-vote threshold for removal, the disqualification clause requires only a majority vote.

A copy of the proposed Senate impeachment rules resolution with handwritten changes.

Lead House impeachment manager Adam Schiff drills down on how Trump boxed Ukraine into a corner by abusing his power
President Donald Trump exits Air Force One on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., after returning from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) Associated Press

Watch day 2 of opening arguments below:

House impeachment manager Sylvia Garcia blows up Trump's defense of his requests for investigations targeting his rivals
Rep. Sylvia Garcia Screenshot via CSPAN/Senate TV

Representative Val Demings, a former police chief and a member of both the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, argued at the trial today that “this moment is about ensuring that every voter, whether a maid or janitor, whether a nurse, a teacher or a truck driver, whether a doctor or a mechanic, that their vote matters and that American elections are decided by the American people.”

Earlier Thursday, House impeachment manager Jerry Nadler played a clip of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina during Bill Clinton's impeachment in 1999.
In the clip, Graham, who was a House impeachment manager during Clinton's Senate trial, elaborated on what he believed the framers meant by "high crimes."
"I think that's what they meant by high crimes, doesn't even have to be a crime," Graham said. "It's just when you start using your office and you're acting in a way that hurts people."
Graham had left the Senate hearing room shortly before Nadler played the clip. But according to media reports from journalists in the gallery, Graham returned shortly after, at which point Nevada Sen. Ben Sasse whispered something in his ear, prompting Graham to smile.
Of course, the South Carolina firebrand has taken a vastly different position on Trump's impeachment, claiming there is no evidence of criminal conduct and that Trump did nothing wrong. He has also indicated that he does not intend to act as an impartial juror in the president's Senate trial.
CNN reported that Nadler played the 1999 clip of Graham to "make the point to rebut" Trump's legal team's argument "that because a crime was not committed, he cannot be impeached."

After recessing for dinner, Democrats began debate over an amendment to subpoena Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, to testify in President Trump’s impeachment trial.
The push for his testimony raises the larger question of whether any Republican senators will join Democrats in insisting that senior administration officials appear before the Senate and recount what they knew about Mr. Trump’s pressure campaign against Ukraine. But Democrats are particularly interested in hearing from Mr. Mulvaney given his proximity to Mr. Trump and his role in enacting a freeze on vital military aid that Congress had appropriated to go to Ukraine.
“The Senate has always taken its duty to obtain evidence, including witness testimony, seriously,” said Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, one of the House impeachment managers. “This is the only way to ensure fundamental fairness for everyone involved.”

After rejecting repeated Democratic attempts to subpoena witnesses and documents, Republicans early Wednesday morning pushed through ground rules for President Trump’s impeachment trial on a party-line vote of 53 to 47.
The adoption of the trial rules ended more than 12 hours of acrimonious debate in which House managers and White House lawyers clashed over the role of the Senate in seeking additional evidence relevant to the accusations against Mr. Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Under the rules, orchestrated by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, the House managers and Mr. Trump’s lawyers will each have 24 hours starting Wednesday afternoon to argue their cases for and against the articles of impeachment. Senators will have 16 hours to ask questions, submitted in writing, likely early next week. After that, the Senate will again consider the matter of whether to subpoena witnesses or documents, at which point a few Republicans have signaled they may be open to doing so.
SENATE ADOPTS TRIAL RULES AFTER BITTER DEBATE OVER EVIDENCE.

Representative Zoe Lofgren said-“It is upsetting that the president has engaged in this behavior,” .Credit...Hilary Swift for The New York Times

House Republicans defend Trump to reporters before opening arguments resume
Rep. Elise Stefanik listens as former USAmbassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testifies before the House Intelligence Committee hearing as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on November 15, 2019. Alex Wong/Reuters

9:48 a.m. Jan. 24, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
Trump complains about a Saturday start to his defense, a ‘Death Valley’ on TV.

President Trump complained Friday that his lawyers would begin his defense on Saturday, a day the president said in the world of television was “called Death Valley,” as he unleashed dozens of tweets and retweets attacking the Senate trial.
The president began his social media assault just after 6 a.m. by retweeting Greg Jarrett, a conservative Fox News analyst, who was attacking the Democrats’ case. In one post, Mr. Jarrett accused Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the lead House manager, of lying about the evidence.
Over the next several hours, he retweeted articles by breitbart.com; Lou Dobbs, the Fox Business Network host; Ben Ferguson, a conservative commentator; Dan Bongino, the host of a conservative radio talk show; and several Republican lawmakers, including Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader in the House.
Later in the morning, Mr. Trump started tweeting his own attacks on the impeachment trial. In addition to complaining about the expected weekend start for his lawyers, Mr. Trump said he had “to endure hour after hour of lies, fraud and deception by Shifty Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer and their crew.”

Impeachment Trial Day 5: Trump Lawyers to give opening arguments
CBSN

1:26 p.m. Jan. 24, 2020 By Carl Hulse
Democrats may not have enough votes to call for witnesses.
House Democrats will rest their case on Friday and, despite bipartisan praise for their presentation, it does not appear to have accomplished its chief objective of persuading enough Republicans that they need to hear from live witnesses and see withheld documents.
Both Republicans and Democrats said that the seven Democratic impeachment managers had done a commendable job, singling out Representative Adam B. Schiff, the lead prosecutor, in particular. But even Democrats were not optimistic there had been a breakthrough.
“Mr. Schiff was phenomenal,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, “but I’m skeptical he moved any votes.”
Many Republicans simply said they had heard enough — and heard it over and over.
“It became mind-numbing after a while,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina.”
“We have heard plenty,” said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 3 Senate Republican.
Those two would never have voted for witnesses in any regard. And the jury is still out on whether the other senators considered in play — Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee — would join with Democrats.
But the increasing expectation in the Senate on Friday was that a vote sometime next week to call witnesses would fall short, moving the trial into its end game.

WATCH: Trump attorney slams House Democrats’ handling of impeachment | Trump impeachment trial

9:26 a.m. Jan. 24, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
Up next: House managers will focus on obstruction and the need for witnesses and documents.

Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows two-thirds of voters want the Senate to call new impeachment witnesses
Yahoo News
ANDREW ROMANO
Jan 22nd 2020

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2020/01/22/yahoo-newsyougov-poll-shows-two-thirds-of-voters-want-the-senate-to-call-new-impeachment-witnesses/23906882/

Nearly two-thirds of registered voters (63 percent) agree with Democrats that the Senate should call new witnesses to testify during President Trump’s impeachment trial, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll. Only 26 percent of voters disagree.

Conducted on Jan. 21 and 22 as the Senate trial was getting underway, the poll suggests that broad majorities of Americans side with Democrats in the pitched partisan battle over whether new witnesses should be allowed to testify or whether they should be blocked, as Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has maintained.

In the survey, 85 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of independents said the Senate should call new witnesses. Among Republicans surveyed, 43 percent said the Senate should not call new witnesses, while 35 percent said witnesses should be called and 22 percent indicated they were unsure on the question.

When asked about specific possible witnesses, majorities of voters said they wanted to hear from each of the four Trump allies Democrats have formally identified. Sixty percent of voters said they wanted to hear from Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani; 57 percent said they wanted to hear from Trump’s secretary of state, Mike Pompeo; 53 percent said they wanted to hear from Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton; and 50 percent said they wanted to hear from Trump’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney. In each case, only about a quarter of voters said they did not want to hear from these figures. Both Giuliani and Bolton have said they would testify if summoned or subpoenaed.

Registered voters were slightly less interested in Giuliani’s Ukraine fixer Lev Parnas, but a plurality (47 percent) still said they wanted to hear from him. Lest Democrats get too excited about those numbers, registered voters also support summoning both Joe Biden (52 percent in favor vs. 36 percent against) and Hunter Biden (50 percent in favor vs. 34 percent against) to testify.

Either way, the Americans surveyed expressed a lack of confidence in the Senate trial, with a plurality (42 percent) saying it will not be conducted fairly — 10 points higher than the percentage who say the trial will be fair. Among Democrats, the “unfair” response number rises to 63 percent, and a plurality of independents (40 percent) agree. Only Republicans (57 percent) believe the Senate will conduct a fair trial. A December Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that a plurality of Americans (49 percent) believed that House impeachment hearings had been fair to Trump.

Overall, registered voters remained divided over whether the president should be removed from office, with 46 percent saying he should, 45 percent saying he shouldn’t and nine percent saying they’re not sure. Three-quarters of registered voters, however, predict that the Republican-controlled Senate will decline to convict and remove Trump.

That said, a full 64 percent of registered voters in states holding an election for a Senate seat this November say that their senator’s vote on impeachment will be a “very important” factor in how they vote on Election Day, and 67 percent of voters nationwide say they are either following the trial “very closely” (35 percent) or “somewhat closely” (32 percent). Even if the outcome of Trump’s trial seems preordained, the stakes remain high.

At the same time, an opposing brief from House managers - all Democrats - accused Mr Trump of using his "presidential powers to pressure a vulnerable foreign partner to interfere in our elections for his own benefit"

"In doing so, he jeopardised our national security and our democratic self-governance," it added. "He then used his presidential powers to orchestrate a cover-up unprecedented in the history of our republic."

3:15 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Nicholas Fandos
House’s impeachment evidence will automatically become part of the trial record.

Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, arriving Friday on Capitol Hill.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for President Trump, arriving Tuesday on Capitol Hill.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Trump impeachment trial in the Senate | Day 3
Fox Business
Streamed live on Jan 23, 2020
The Senate continues the impeachment trial of President Trump. FOX Business Network (FBN) is a financial news channel delivering real-time information across all platforms that impact both Main Street and Wall Street. Headquartered in New York — the business capital of the world — FBN launched in October 2007 and is the leading business network on television, topping CNBC in Business Day viewers for the second consecutive year. T he network is available in more than 80 million homes in all markets across the United States. Owned by FOX, FBN has bureaus in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and London. Subscribe to Fox Business! https://bit.ly/2D9Cdse Watch more Fox Business Video: https://video.foxbusiness.com Watch Fox Business Network Live: http://www.foxnewsgo.com/ Watch full episodes of FBN Primetime shows Lou Dobbs Tonight: https://video.foxbusiness.com/playlis... Trish Regan Primetime: https://video.foxbusiness.com/playlis... Kennedy: https://video.foxbusiness.com/playlis... Follow Fox Business on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoxBusiness Follow Fox Business on Twitter: https://twitter.com/foxbusiness Follow Fox Business on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foxbusiness

Capitol Hill on Day Two of the Impeachment Trial of President Trump Reuterse.

Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, made changes to the proposed rules for the trial after Republicans senators, including Susan Collins of Maine, raised concerns about two provisions, according to a spokeswoman for Ms. Collins.
The aide, Annie Clark, said the Maine Republican wanted to ensure that the resolution as closely resembled the rules adopted by the Senate in the 1999 trial of President Bill Clinton as possible.
Mr. McConnell’s initial plans had deviated in several ways from those carried out in Mr. Clinton’s case

1:40 a.m. Jan. 22, 2020
By Catie Edmondson

​Bid forcing Roberts to rule on subpoena motions is rejected.
The Senate rejected early Wednesday morning the final amendment offered by Democrats — this time by Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland — that would have required Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to rule on motions to subpoena witnesses and documents. The vote, 53 to 47, was along party lines.
“It would give this decision to a neutral party,” said Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
But Jay Sekulow, one of President Trump’s personal lawyers, rejected the measure out of hand. “This is not an appellate court; there is not an arbitration clause in the United States Senate,” he said.

1:50 a.m. Jan. 22, 2020 By Michael D. Shear

​Senate adopts trial rules after bitter debate over evidence.

10:51 a.m. Jan. 24, 2020 By Michael D. Shear
A look at the Republicans who might break with the party to vote for new witnesses.

11:51 a.m. Jan. 24, 2020 mBy Michael D. Shear
House managers will make a final push for new witnesses and documents.

A Sketch Artist’s View of the Impeachment Trial

Robert B Blair, left, defied a subpoena from House impeachment investigators in the fall, but news reports since then have suggested he would be a valuable witness.Credit...Alex Wong/Getty Images

1:49 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Nicholas Fandos
McConnell’s changes to the trial rules come after concerns from Republican senators.

Senator Lamar Alexander speaking to reporters last week on Capitol Hill.Credit...Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times

Trump impeachment managers conclude opening arguments in Senate trial – watch live
Guardian News

Trump Impeachment Trial: Day 2
Global News
Streamed live on Jan 22, 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump's senate impeachment trial enters its second day. The trial resumes on Wednesday, Jan. 22 with opening statements by the prosecution, which will be followed by statements by the defence and questions. You can watch full live coverage of the trial starting at 1pm ET/10am PT For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/tag/trump-impea... Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/20fcXDc Like Global News on Facebook HERE: http://bit.ly/255GMJQ Follow Global News on Twitter HERE: http://bit.ly/1Toz8mt Follow Global News on Instagram HERE: https://bit.ly/2QZaZIB #DonaldTrump #TrumpImpeachment #Impeachment #USSenate #USpolitics #GlobalNews

House impeachment manager Jerry Nadler struck an impassioned tone as he described how President Trump abused his power "in order to kneecap political opponents and spread Russian conspiracy theories."
Trump used his office to "compel" foreign nations to "meddle in our elections," Nadler said. "This attacks the very foundation of our liberty," is "a grave abuse of power," and an "unprecedented betrayal of our national interest."
It is a "shocking corruption of the election process," and a "crime against the Constitution warranting — demanding — removal from office," Nadler said.

WHITE HOUSE
At Davos, Trump calls impeachment trial a long-running 'hoax'
As his trial in the Senate gets underway, the president will be counterprogramming at the gathering of the world's elite in the Swiss mountains.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-calls-impeachment-trial-long-running-hoax-davos-summit-n1118991

Jan. 21, 2020, 11:06 AM GMT / Updated Jan. 21, 2020, 2:12 PM GMT
By Shannon Pettypiece

DAVOS, Switzerland — President Donald Trump repeatedly called the impeachment trial set to start in Washington later Tuesday a "hoax" shortly before touting his economic achievements in a speech to some of the world's richest and most influential people at the mountainside gathering here.
"It's a witch hunt that's been going on for years and it's, frankly, it's disgraceful," the president told reporters as he headed into the packed conference hall to give his remarks.
"That whole thing is a total hoax, so I’m sure it is going to work out fine," he said after his speech.

Trump used the moment on the world stage to take a victory lap on the economy and divert attention from the drama playing out back home and to give the appearance of a president hard at work. It’s a strategy used by then-President Bill Clinton, who scheduled events across the country during his impeachment, though he didn’t travel abroad.
In his address, Trump rattled off a long list of economic metrics that show improvements in the U.S. economy — attributing them to his tax cuts, new trade deals and rollbacks in regulations. In the mostly scripted remarks, a toned down version of his rally stump speech, Trump sounded at times like a salesman pitching the United States to a room of business executives as a place to invest, and at others like a candidate trying to appeal to a domestic audience thousands of miles away.
"I knew that if we unleashed the potential of our people, if we cut taxes, slashed regulations — and we did that at a level that’s never been done before in the history of our country in a short period of time — fixed broken trade deals and fully tapped American energy, that prosperity would come thundering back at a record speed," Trump told the crowd. "And that is exactly what we did and that is what happened."
Trump received a mostly warm welcome from the audience of mostly business executives, financiers and foreign dignitaries, many of whom have benefited from the surge in the stock market under his term, as well as his corporate tax cuts.
Despite the populist, anti-globalist rhetoric that helped get him elected, Trump has sought to bolster his relationship with Wall Street and the business community, often inviting executives to the White House and promoting how his administration has enriched them.

Trump has meetings throughout the day with business executives, the prime minister of Pakistan, the president of the European Commission, and the president of the Swiss Confederation. He is expected to travel back to Washington on Wednesday. Those meetings could also give Trump the opportunity to take questions from reporters during photo ops.
But back in Washington, the domestic drama continued.The Senate will resume its impeachment trial Tuesday afternoon during which a number of procedural items are expected to be raised. Arguments by Democrats will begin Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET, when Trump is scheduled to be traveling back from Davos.
Trump will be briefed throughout the day on the developments in the impeachment hearings, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told reporters.
The economy will be key to Trump's re-election and his remarks here were catered almost as much to a domestic audience as a global one.
"We are determined to ensure the working and middle class reap the largest gains," Trump said.
Trump signed the first phase of a hard-fought trade deal last week with China, capping a bitter 18-month battle between the world's two largest economies that has roiled markets and slowed economic growth worldwide. The U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 3.5 percent in December, the lowest level in 50 years, but the month's payroll and wage growth numbers missed expectations.

People preparing for the March for Life on Friday.Credit...Calla Kessler/The New York Times

12:50 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Catie Edmondson
McConnell challenges senators with remarks about fairness over partisanship.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, in his opening remarks said the day’s proceeding would serve as a critical test for senators.
“This initial step will offer an early signal to our country: Can the Senate still serve our founding purpose?” he said. “Can we still put fairness, evenhandedness and historical precedent ahead of the partisan passions of the day? Today’s vote will contain some answers.”
Mr. McConnell then encouraged senators to support his proposed rules for the trial that have infuriated Democrats, who have described them as tantamount to a “cover-up.” And he again threw cold water on the idea of hearing from new witnesses like John R. Bolton, President Trump’s former national security adviser.
MCCONNELL CHALLENGES SENATORS WITH REMARKS ABOUT FAIRNESS OVER PARTISANSHIP.

Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, Tuesday on Capitol Hill.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Representative Val B. Demings implored Republicans on Tuesday to support the measure. Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Democrats say Trump blocked Ukraine money but 'got caught'
By Associated Press
 Jan 25, 2020
https://www.9news.com.au/world/usa-news-democrats-say-trump-blocked-ukraine-money-but-got-caught/e5ebad02-7de1-4bea-aa53-9c0cbab3cf00

Democratic House prosecutors launched their final arguments at Donald Trump's impeachment trial, insisting the president only released congressionally approved military money to Ukraine because he had "gotten caught" withholding it.
"The scheme was unraveling," said Rep Jason Crow of Colorado, a former Army ranger, as the prosecution wrapped up its presentation on the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, before turning to the charge of obstruction of Congress, on Friday (local time).

As Democrats pressed their case before skeptical Republican senators for a third day, the president's legal team was preparing its defense, expected to start Saturday.
Mr Trump, eyes on the audience beyond the Senate chamber, bemoaned the schedule in a tweet, saying "looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V.".
The Senate jurors faced another long day Friday armed with pens and paper – and, for Republicans, the gift of fidget spinners – for the historic trial.
The president is being tried in the Senate after the House impeached him last month, accusing him of abusing his office by asking Ukraine for politically motivated probes of political foe Joe Biden and Biden's son while withholding military aid from a US ally that was at war with bordering Russia.
The second article of impeachment accuses him of obstructing Congress by refusing to turn over documents or allow officials to testify in the House probe.
Rep Crow, a freshman lawmaker, said the money for Ukraine was released once Congress intervened.
"It wasn't lifted for any legitimate reason," Rep Crow told the senators. "It was only lifted because President Trump had gotten caught."
Republicans have defended Mr Trump's actions as appropriate and are casting the process as a politically motivated effort to weaken him in his reelection campaign. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and acquittal is considered likely.

Where the impeachment trial currently stands
The Senate is heading next week toward a pivotal vote on Democratic demands for testimony from top Trump aides, including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton who refused to appear before the House.

It would take four Republican senators to join the Democratic minority to seek witnesses, Mr Trump's motives were apparent, that he abused power like no other president in history, swept up by a "completely bogus" Ukraine theory pushed by attorney Rudy Giuliani.

Rep Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, made an emotional plea late Thursday for senators to consider what was at stake.
"Let me tell you something. If right doesn't matter, it doesn't matter how good the Constitution is," Rep Schiff told a pin-drop-quiet room.
"If you find him guilty you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters."

They argued that Mr Trump's abuse was for his own personal political benefit ahead of the 2020 election, even as the nation's top FBI and national security officials were publicly warning off the theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election.
"That's what Donald Trump wanted investigated or announced – this completely bogus Kremlin-pushed conspiracy theory," Mr Schiff declared.

The Democrats' challenge is clear as they try to convince not just fidgety senators but an American public divided over the Republican president in an election year.
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed the public slightly more likely to say the Senate should convict and remove Mr Trump from office than to say it should not, 45 to 40 percent. But a sizable percentage, 14 percent, said they didn't know enough to have an opinion.

One issue with wide agreement: Mr Trump should allow top aides to appear as witnesses at the trial. About seven in 10 respondents said so, including majorities of Republicans and Democrats, according to the poll.

Trump supporter Sen Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks to the media before attending the impeachment trial. (AP)
President Donald Trump's personal attorney Jay Sekulow, left, walks with White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, right, as they arrive at the Capitol in Washington during the impeachment trial. (AP)

During break in trial, Republican senators show no signs of budging despite overwhelming evidence against Trump
Florida Sen. Rick Scott. Screenshot via CSPAN

1:31 p.m. Jan. 24, 2020 By Eileen Sullivan
Recording appears to show Trump urging for envoy’s ouster.

2:56 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Michael D. Shear
White House counsel gets personal in remarks about Schiff, the lead House manager.
If there was any doubt that the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump would get bitter and personal, Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel, dispelled it quickly.
The arguments on the articles haven’t yet begun. But as he argued on behalf of the trial rules proposed by Republicans, Mr. Cipollone lashed out — personally and directly — at Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the lead House manager.
“It’s very difficult to listen to Mr. Schiff tell the tale that he just told,” Mr. Cipollone said. Referencing a summary of Mr. Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president Mr. Schiff once gave during a committee hearing — which Mr. Trump frequently mocks — Mr. Cipollone said that Mr. Schiff “manufactured a fraudulent version” of the call. (Mr. Schiff has said that his depiction of the call conferred “the essence” of the presidents’ exchange as a “classic organized crime shakedown.”)
READ MOREWHITE HOUSE COUNSEL GETS PERSONAL IN REMARKS ABOUT SCHIFF, THE LEAD HOUSE MANAGER.

4:33 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Flake says argument that president ‘did no wrong’ pains him.

​Trump impeachment: What you need to know about the Senate trial
US & Canada 
22 January 2020
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50813696

For only the third time in history, an American president is on trial after being impeached.
Such a trial could, in theory, lead to President Donald Trump being removed from office. That outcome would be a huge shock - we'll explain why later - but the very fact a president is facing trial is significant.
Here are eight questions and answers that will help you understand the trial.

1) What is impeachment?
Put simply, it's a process that allows senior figures in government to hold other officials (like judges, the president and cabinet members) to account if they're suspected of committing offences while in office.
Those offences can include "treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanours".
After someone is impeached, they then go on trial in the Senate, the upper house of Congress, and its members decide whether they guilty or not. It's a political trial, not a criminal one.

2) What is Mr Trump accused of?
He's facing two articles of impeachment, or charges.
Firstly, he's accused of seeking help from Ukraine's government to help himself get re-elected this November. He's alleged to have held back millions of dollars of military aid to Ukraine and dangled a proposed White House meeting with Ukraine's president, both as bargaining chips.
In exchange, witnesses say he wanted Ukraine to publicly announce an investigation into Joe Biden, the man who's leading the Democratic race to challenge him in the election. Polls suggest Mr Biden would beat him if chosen as the Democratic candidate.

The Trump-Ukraine story explained
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49800181

Trump impeachment - your questions answered
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50831350
Secondly, after the White House refused to allow staff to testify at the first impeachment hearings last year, Democrats accused Mr Trump of obstructing Congress (the part of the US government that writes and brings in laws, and which was investigating him).
Mr Trump has denied any wrongdoing and his legal team say the "flimsy" charges are a "dangerous perversion of the Constitution".
It's worth emphasising that this has nothing to do with the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election, and into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia. That ended with no further action against Mr Trump himself.

3) Why is there a trial?
This is what led us to this moment:
August 2019: A whistleblower made allegations against President Trump
October - December: An investigation took place, with hearings in the House of Representatives (the lower house of Congress, controlled by Mr Trump's Democratic rivals)
December: Democratic leaders from the House voted to impeach Mr Trump
January 2020: The case was passed up to the Senate (controlled by Mr Trump's Republicans), where the trial will take place

4) What does the Senate trial involve?
The US Constitution is a bit vague when it comes to the specifics of managing impeachment. But there are general rules, based largely on the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868. In that case, the president just about kept his job.
The only other president to face an impeachment trial was Bill Clinton in 1999. He too survived.

Viewpoint: Evidence for impeachment thin
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50722427

Why only two articles of impeachment?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50732900

On the first day of the trial, senators had to vote on the rules drawn up by Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader of the Senate. This led to 12 hours of rancorous debate that stretched deep into the night.
Republicans - who make up the majority in the Senate by 53 members to 47 - rejected attempts by Democrats to introduce new witnesses and documents at the start of the trial. Democrats were left furious by the decision.

Mr McConnell also decided not to proceed with an original plan to cram both sides' opening arguments into four 12-hour days.
Some of the other rules include: no live tweeting from the chamber, and no outside reading materials to be brought in. Senators are also not allowed to speak to those sitting near them while the case is being heard.

Senators will hear from both sides - prosecutors from the House of Representatives and lawyers from the White House - as well as from any witnesses. After that, senators will be given a full day to deliberate before they vote on whether to convict Mr Trump.

5) Could Mr Trump be removed from office?

A two-thirds majority of 67 votes in the 100-seat Senate is required to convict and oust Mr Trump. But because Republicans have a majority of 53 to 47 in the Senate, the president is widely expected to be cleared.
In the unlikely event of Mr Trump being found guilty, he would be removed from office and Vice-President Mike Pence would be sworn in as president.
A simple majority of senators - 51 - could also vote to end the trial should they wish.

6) Who are the main players?

Each senator, including Mr McConnell, has delivered an oath promising to deliver "impartial justice" during the trial. But Mr McConnell last month said: "I'm not an impartial juror", and has also said he and his party are working hand-in-hand with the White House.
"Everything I do during this, I'm co-ordinating with the White House counsel," he told Fox News, to the fury of senior Democrats.
He is not presiding over the trial - that job has gone to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, although the 100 senators will ultimately act as both judge and jury. Justice Roberts is there to make sure the trial sticks to the predetermined rules.

A group of seven Democrats are acting as impeachment managers - essentially prosecutors for the House, who will present its case for impeachment to the Senate. They include Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, both frequent targets of Mr Trump's anger.
President Trump's defence team includes special prosecutors from President Bill Clinton's impeachment - Ken Starr and Robert Ray.
Alan Dershowitz, whose past clients include OJ Simpson, is also part of the team led by White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Mr Trump's personal lawyer Jay Sekulow.

7) Will Mr Trump give evidence?
It looks very unlikely at this stage. He could choose to appear before the Senate himself, but it's much more likely his lawyers, Mr Cipollone and Mr Sekulow, will speak on his behalf.
They, like the impeachment managers, will be able to question witnesses and deliver opening and closing statements.
Mr Trump has been eager for Mr Biden to testify along with the original whistleblower. Democrats want several senior White House officials to testify, including former National Security Adviser John Bolton.

But Republicans in the Senate may vote not to introduce any witnesses at all. A simple majority of senators - 51 - is needed to agree whether witnesses (including Mr Trump) will be called or not.

A timeline of the Trump-Ukraine story
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50323605

Who's who in the Trump-Ukraine story?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50323605

Senators can ask questions of witnesses or counsellors, but only by submitting them in writing to Justice Roberts.
Any witnesses may not necessarily appear on the Senate floor. They could be interviewed by a committee of lawmakers, and footage of the testimony would be aired during the trial instead.
Mr Clinton's trial had no live witnesses.

8) When will this all be over?
After the House presents the articles of impeachment to the Senate - a process that took three days in Mr Clinton's trial - senators must remain in session every day except Sunday until they make a final decision.
This means that the four Democratic senators who are running for the presidency - Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bennet - will have to leave their campaigns behind for the length of the trial.
The trial is likely to last for weeks but how many is anybody's guess - Mr Clinton's took almost a month. Democrats will hope it is all done by February and the start of the 2020 primary elections, which will decide their nominee to run against (probably) Mr Trump.

Want to know more?

A SIMPLE GUIDE: If you want a basic take, this one's for you
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39945744

GO DEEPER: Here's a 100, 300 and 800-word summary of the story
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49800181

WHAT'S IMPEACHMENT? A political process to remove a president
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-46131046/democrats-and-trump-what-does-it-take-to-impeach-a-president

VIEW FROM TRUMP COUNTRY: Hear from residents of a West Virginia town
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-50355567/what-coal-country-makes-of-trump-impeachment

CONTEXT: Why Ukraine matters to the US
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50419668

FACT-CHECK: Did Ukraine interfere in the 2016 election to help Clinton?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50424322