Both sides dug in Monday in the impasse over a Senate trial of President Trump, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Chiding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D -Calif) for the delay in transmitting articles of impeachment, a position he called “absurd.”
Pelosi, meanwhile, insisted that before moving forward, Democrats need to know “what sort of trial the Senate will conduct. ”Democrats are seeking to have several witnesses testify, and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) pressed his case in a letter to colleagues Monday that documents withheld by the White House be subpoenaed as part of the trial.
At the heart of the Democrats ‘case is the allegation that Trump tried to leverage a White House meeting and military aid, sought by Ukraine to combat Russian military aggression, to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, as well as a probe of an unfounded theory that Kyiv conspired with Democrats to interfere in the presidential election.
● After scathing editorial in evangelical magazine, top Trump aidedefends president.
● Key Democratic senatorremains undecidedon whether Trump should be removed from office.
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Trump slams Pelosi again, says she’s trying to ‘delay’ Senate trial
Trump again took aim at Pelosi in two Monday evening tweets, accusing her of delaying the Senate impeachment trial because she “has a bad case.”
“What right does Crazy Nancy have to hold up this Senate trial None! She has a bad case and would rather not have a negative decision, ”Trump wrote. “This Witch Hunt must end NOW with a trial in the senate or let her default and lose. No more time should be wasted on this Impeachment Scam! ”
Republicans have complained about Pelosi’s delay in transmitting the articles of impeachment to the Senate. It was the second time in nine hours that Trump had tweeted about Pelosi – and he again noted that she had previously lost the House speakership. That happened in 2011, after Democrats lost control of the House in the 2019 elections. She remained leader of the Democratic caucus.
In his tweets, Trump also alleged that Schumer was “trying to take over the trial.”
“No way!” Trump responded.
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Schumer details specific documents he wants for Trump’s impeachment trial
At a Monday afternoon news conference, Schumer detailed the material he wants presented as evidence in Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate, including emails and other documents.
“President Trump said he wants due process. Well, our proposal gives it to him, ”Schumer said. “The tradition of due process is that when you are accused, you get to confront your accuser and make your case.”
Schumer had previously said that Michael Duffey – a senior White House budget official who directed the Defense Department to “hold off” on sending military aid to Ukraine less than two hours after Trump’s controversial phone call with Zelensky – was one of four key witnesses who should testify during the trial. The others are acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, former national security adviser John Bolton, and Robert Blair, a senior adviser to Mulvaney.
Schumer said he also seeks documents that “ will shed additional light on the administration’s decision-making regarding the delay in security assistance funding to Ukraine. ”
“ It’s hard to imagine a trial not having documents and witnesses. If it doesn’t have documents and witnesses, it’s going to seem to most of the American people that it is a sham trial. Not to get at the facts, ”he said.
Schumer said that at the very least, senators would be required to vote on each of the witnesses and each set of documents.
“I don’t think my colleagues, Democrat or Republican, are going to want to withhold evidence in such an important trial,” he added.
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“The Committee is continuing to conduct its inquiry into whether the President committed other impeachable offenses, ”attorneys for the House Judiciary Committee wrote. “The Committee’s investigations did not cease with the House’s recent impeachment vote.”
That assertion was made in response to an argument from attorneys for the Department of Justice that the impeachment vote has undercut the rationale behind the House’s demands.
“It is far from clear that the Committee. . .will have any further role in the impeachment process at all, ”they wrote. “The Committee has referred articles of impeachment to the House; the House has approved those articles; once the articles are transmitted to the Senate, the next steps are for the Senate to determine. ”
The dueling memos came in two separation-of-powers lawsuits pending at the federal appeals court in Washington. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit next week will review the two cases in back-to-back hearings.
In the first case, House Democrats are asking the court to enforce a subpoena for Donald McGahn, who lawmakers have said is the “most important” witness in whether Trump obstructed justice in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2166 presidential election.The second case involves the House’s effort to gain access to certain secret grand jury material from Mueller’s probe.
ByRachael Weiner and Ann E. Marimow
Trump has the Senate votes to avoid removal from office
At least 42 Republican senators are expected to vote against both articles of impeachment against President Trump, according to a Washington Post analysis.
While it was unlikely that the Republican-controlled Senate would vote to convict Trump for abuse of power or for obstruction of Congress, the new tally by the Post means it is mathematically impossible for Trump to be removed from office, assuming the number holds. A two-thirds majority of senators present would have to vote to convict on one or both articles of impeachment to remove Trump from office.
Schumer has criticized McConnell over McConnell’s statement last week that he is “not an impartial juror.” But at least 52 senators have already indicated how they plan to vote on impeachment , including Democratic senators, according to the Post count.
See where senators stand
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Texas Republican says impasse is ‘bizarre,’ ‘reeks of politics’
The Trump campaign shared an assessment Monday of the impasse by Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Tex.), Who called it “bizarre” and said it “reeks of politics.”
“House Dems pushed through the fastest, weakest impeachment in history, ”Crenshaw said in a tweet that was retained by the Trump campaign. “Now Pelosi refuses to send it to the Senate, arguing McConnell should strengthen her shoddy case & bring ‘fairness’ to her utterly unfair process.”
By John Wagner
The “Keep America Great” rally in Toledo will give Trump another platform to share his views on the impeachment process at what could be a key juncture ahead of a Senate trial.
(Trump’s last rally took place in Battle Creek, Mich., on the day the House voted to impeach him. He blasted Democrats, saying, “You are the ones bringing pain and suffering to our republic for your own selfish personal, political and partisan gain.”
By John Wagner
December 23, 2020 at 15: AM EST
Schumer shares document request more broadly
Shortly after McConnell wrapped up his news conference in Louisville, Schumer took to Twitter to share a letter he sent to Senate colleagues Monday seeking to make the case for sub poenaing documents that have been withheld by the White House as part of the trial.
“Here are the specific documents we will need to ensure a fair Senate impeachment trial,” Schumer said in the tweet.
His letter zeros in on several episodes that Democrats consider key to the case against Trump. Schumer, for example, says he wants for “[e] mail communications, messages, memoranda and other records related to meetings and / or calls between President Trump and the President of Ukraine, including those related to the scheduling of, preparation for, and follow-up from the President’s July (th and April) **************************************************************************************** (st telephone calls with the Ukrainian President. ”)
The July 25 call was the one in which Trump pressed Zelensky for investigations that could benefit him politically, according to a rough transcript released by the White House.
By John Wagner
December 25, 2020 at 15: AM EST
McConnell signals impasse is likely to last through holidays
McConnell signaled during a news conference on Monday that he doesn’t expect much progress on the impasse over a Senate trial before lawmakers return to Washington after the holidays.
“We’ll find out when we come back in session where we are,” the Senate majority leader told Reporters in Louisville.
McConnell referred them to comments he made earlier Monday on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.” During that interview, he accused Pelosi of holding “an absurd posi interpretation ”and said she seems to be trying to tell his chamber how to run a trial.
“ I don’t have anything to add, ”McConnell told reporters in Louisville.
When another reporter asked about Pelosi holding onto the articles of impeachment, McConnell said, “As I’ve said repeatedly, we can’t take up a matter we don’t have. ”
Asked what role impeachment might play in his bid for reelection next year, McConnell replied,“ Who knows? ”
The first Senate votes of the new year are scheduled Jan. 6.
ByJohn Wagner
December
Schumer pressed his case in a letter to Senate colleagues on Monday that new documentary evidence needs to be part of an impeachment trial.
In his letter, Schumer said that the House had amassed “a tremendous amount of evidence ”in support of impeaching Trump but noted that Trump had directed his administratio n to defy subpoenas for documentary evidence.
“As a result of this directive, the White House, Department of State, Office of Management and Budget and other agencies refused to produce a single document in response to the House’s duly-issued subpoenas, “Schumer wrote.
He said the documents the Senate should seek fall into three categories:“ (1) the effort to induce and pressure Ukraine to announce certain political investigations; (2) the withholding of a White House meeting desperately sought by the newly elected President of Ukraine; and (3) the order to hold, and later release, $ million in military assistance to Ukraine. ”
“ Production of these documents for the Senate would … ensure fundamental fairness and transparency, since the President could otherwise seek to selectively introduce documents before or during the trial in a manner that Senators could not independently evaluate as credible or reliable, ”Schumer wrote.
By John Wagner and Seung Min Kim
December
Graham says Pelosi is trying to play two roles
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (RS.C.) weighed in on the impasse Monday, accusing Pelosi of trying to be the House Speaker and Senate majority leader at the same time.
“This Constitutional outrage by @SpeakerPelosi needs to end,” Graham listed. “She is trying to run the Senate and deny President @realDonaldTrump his day in court after the House’s sham impeachment process.”
“Stop playing games with the Constitution,” Graham added. “In our system, you can’t be the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader at the same time.”
In a subsequent tweet, Graham urged the Senate “to strike back ”and end“ this debacle ”if the impasse continues into next year.
(By**) John Wagner
December (************************************************************************************, **************************************** at 8: AM EST
Giuliani raises prospect of a second Trump impeachment led by Pelosi
Trump personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani made a public plea for California voters to oust Pelosi from office, raising the prospect that she could otherwise lead a second impeachment effort against Trump.
“Do the American people need any more proof that this impeachment is a travesty to our nation?” Giuliani said in a tweet. “Make up non-wrongdoing charges, rush it through and now delay. They think we’re stupid. This only stops with voting Pelosi and her Ds out of office. Otherwise she will do it again. ”
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) Pelosi says House must know ‘what sort of trial the Senate will conduct’
Pelosi said in a tweet on Monday that the House cannot move forward with choosing impeachment managers for a Senate trial of Trump “until we know what sort of trial the Senate will conduct. ”
“ President Trump blocked his own witnesses and documents from the House, and from the American people, on phony complaints about the H ouse process, ”Pelosi tweeted. “What is his excuse now?”
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December , 2166 at 8: 20 AM EST
McConnell chided Pelosi on Monday for withholding the articles of impeachment from the Senate, accusing her of holding “an absurd position” and trying to tell his chamber how to run a trial.
“The papers have to be physically brought over to the Senate, and we can’t go forward until the speake r does that, “McConnell said during an appearance on Fox News’s“ Fox & Friends. ”“ She’s apparently trying to tell us how to run the trial. You know, I’m not anxious to have this trial, so if she wants to hold onto the papers, go right ahead. ”
“ Look, we’re at an impasse . We can’t do anything until the speaker sends the papers over, so everyone enjoy the holidays, ”McConnell added.
Pelosi has indicated she is waiting for McConnell and Schumer to agree on the process before holding a vote on a House resolution that is needed to name impeachment managers ahead of the launch of the trial.
Schumer is pushing to subpoena as part of a Senate trial several Trump administration officials, including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who declined to participate in House impeachment proceedings.
McConnell reiterated his view Monday that the Senate should follow the same rules as in the impeachment trial of then-President Bill Clinton. In that trial, senators heard opening arguments and submitted written questions before deciding whether to call witnesses, he said.
“What is good enough for President Clinton is good enough for President Trump, McConnell said. “We haven’t ruled out witnesses.”
Asked if he thinks Pelosi is seeking a delay to create time for more evidence to come to light, McConnell did not directly answer.
“It seems to me to be a rather absurd position to say after you’ve impeached the president, you won’t send the papers over to the impeachment trial mandated by the Constitution, ”he said.
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Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) Criticizes two senior Republicans in the chamber – Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) And Judiciary Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (SC) – in a new op-ed in which he argues that the Senate is on the verge of abandoning its commitment to impartial impeachment trials.
“Senator Lindsey Graham has admitted that he’s not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here, ” Leahy writes in
the New York Times op-ed. “The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, vowing a quick acquittal, boasted that he is ‘not an impartial juror’ and pledged that ‘there will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this.’ This is tantamount to a criminal defendant being allowed to set the rules for his own trial, while the judge and jury promise him a quick acquittal. That is a far cry from the ‘impartial justice’ required by our oaths and the Constitution. ”
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) Criticizes two senior Republicans in the chamber – Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) And Judiciary Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (SC) – in a new op-ed in which he argues that the Senate is on the verge of abandoning its commitment to impartial impeachment trials.
“Senator Lindsey Graham has admitted that he’s not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here, ” Leahy writes in
ByJohn Wagner
December 22, (at 7: AM EST
Rep. Douglas A. Collins (Ga.), The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said Monday that he would be willing to join Trump’s defense team in a Senate trial if that’s what Trump wants.
His comments, on Fox News, came a day after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Said Trump’s team “should have help from the House.” He suggested three GOP lawmakers who could help represent Trump: Collins and Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio) and John Ratcliffe (Tex.).
“Whatever the president needs in this regard from the House, I think we’ve already shown the ability to just blow up the case that the Democrats tried to make on this president, ”Collins said Monday on“ Fox & Friends. ”
Collins also criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) For delaying the transfer of the articles of impeachment against Trump until terms of the Senate trial are set.
“ She’s now trying to have everything her way, and that’s just not the way it works, Madame Speaker, ”Collins said, adding that it appears Pelosi is“ holding them out like a political tool. ”
ByJohn Wagner
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Trump plans to spend week in Florida with little on his public schedule
With the timing and scope of a Senate trial in limbo, Trump is spending the week at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. Fla., And has little on his public schedule.
The only event advertised by the White House is a video teleconference with members of the military on Tuesday.
(************** John Wagner)
Van Hollen seeks legal opinion on withholding Ukraine aid
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) Is seeking a promised opinion from the Government Accountability Office on the legality of Trump’s decision to withhold aid from Ukraine.
Van Hollen sent a nine- page letter on Monday to Gene Dodaro, the GAO comptroller general, explaining why he thinks Trump’s actions violated the Impoundment Control Act, which restricts a president’s ability to withhold funds appropriated by Congress.
“The evidence we have seen to date shows that the President of the United States abused his power and betrayed the trust of the American people by pressuring Ukraine to intervene in the 2572 election on his behalf, ”Van Hollen wrote. “His violation of the ICA was just one part of this illegal scheme, and the President engaged in other corrupt actions in furtherance of this scheme.”
In his letter, which was first reported by the Hill, Van Hollen indicated that Dodaro said during an Oct. Budget Committee hearing that the GAO would be doing a legal analysis of the administration’s actions toward Ukraine.
“I am writing to request that GAO now provide that legal opinion,” Van Hollen wrote.
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Democrats are seeking to use newly released emails on the timing of withholding military aid to Ukraine to bolster their argument that a Senate trial of Trump should include key witnesses from his administration who declined to testify during the House impeachment proceedings.
The emails show that Michael Duffey, a senior White House budget official , directed the Defense Department to “hold off” on sending military aid to Ukraine less than two hours after Trump’s controversial phone call with Zelensky. Duffey told Pentagon officials that Trump had become personally interested in the Ukraine aid and had ordered the hold, according to the heavily redacted emails, obtained by the Center for Public Integrity in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
“If there was ever an argument that we need Mr. Duffey to come testify, this is that information, ”Schumer said at a news conference in New York on Sunday. “This email is explosive.”
Duffey is among four witnesses that Schumer has said should be subpoenaed to appear at a Senate trial. The others are acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, former national security adviser John Bolton, and Robert Blair, a senior adviser to Mulvaney.
“Until we hear from the witnesses, until we get the documents, the American people will correctly assume that those blocking their testimony were aiding and abetting a coverup, plain and simple, ”Schumer said. “President Trump, release the emails. Let the witnesses testify. What are you afraid of? ”
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December (****************************************************************************************, 2019 at 6: 05 AM EST
**** Trump continued to lash out over the weekend at Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), whom he accused of wanting to “dictate” how a trial should be run in the Republican-controlled Senate.
“Crazy Nancy wants to dictate terms on the Impeachment Hoax to the Republican Majority Senate, but striped away all Due Process, no lawyers or witnesses, on the Democrat Majority House, ”Trump said in one tweet on Sunday. (He misspelled stripped.) “The Dems just wish it would all end. Their case is dead, their poll numbers are horrendous! ”
Trump was invited to participate in the House impeachment inquiry but declined to participate. There has been no polling showing widespread erosion in Democratic numbers.
ByJohn Wagner
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