Trump impeachment trial: key Republican senator says she will oppose witnesses – live

  • Lisa Murkowski says she will vote against calling witnesses
  • Book says Trump told Bolton to help pressure Ukraine
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The impeachment trial has resumed, and Trump’s legal team will now have two hours to address the debate over calling witnesses to testify in the trial.

Deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin has taken the podium to argue against witnesses, claiming the senators have heard enough testimony from the officials who participated in the public hearings of the House impeachment inquiry.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell was hosting some of his Republican colleagues in his office during the break, likely working through the logistics of the trial’s conclusion, but he is now headed back to the chamber.

So far senators Thune, Tillis, Romney, Alexander and Murkowski have emerged from McConnell's office. I frankly have no idea whether they want to push this through late tonight or punt it to next week.

Aaaand McConnell just emerged to head back to the Senate floor

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Trump lawyers: ‘puritanical rage’ driving impeachment trial – video

The to and fro continues in the Trump impeachment trial as the prosecution and defense continue to debate subpoenaing witnesses. The White House lawyer Pat Cipollone accused the House impeachment managers of being driven by 'puritanical rage' while the Democratic congressman Hakeem Jeffries criticised the defense for raising 'conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory'

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Trump impeachment trial: Democrats in final push for witnesses – live

  • Republicans seem increasingly confident they can block witnesses
  • John Roberts insists he will not say alleged whistleblower’s name
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The Senate is back in session, and House managers and Trump lawyers are back to fielding questions.

GOP Senators found a new way to raise the topic of the Bidens and Burisma: “Do you agree with John Kerry’s stepson that Hunter Biden working with Burisma was unacceptable?”

When then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son joined the board of an obscure Ukrainian gas company half a decade ago, it was a stunning coup for its owner, a former Ukrainian minister working to remake the company’s image as he faced a money-laundering investigation.

For Hunter Biden, the job came with risks: Ukraine was in the throes of political upheaval, and there was building scrutiny of former government officials profiting in the lucrative gas industry. His father was the face of the Obama administration’s effort to get Ukraine to crack down on corruption.

Before the break, House manager Adam Schiff even more directly reassured senators concerned about “endless delays”, once again suggesting a one-week period for deposition and “limited” time for witnesses. Chief Justice John Roberts could quickly resolve disputes, he said.

Lawmakers and journalists have been speculating all day about how the upcoming votes on witnesses could fall. Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Lisa Murkowski were spotted together during the dinner break. Both are potential swing votes, and have told reporters they remain undecided.

Key swing vote Sen. Lamar Alexander told me he's going to announce his decision on witnesses TONIGHT, a decision that will make clear whether the Senate trial will come to a swift conclusion or if it will lead to a new phase over witnesses and documents.

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Trump impeachment: White House claims John Bolton book contains top secret information – live

  • White House sends letter saying book cannot be published
  • Today is first of two days of question-and-answer sessions at trial
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The impeachment managers have repeatedly used their answers to make an argument for calling witnesses, specifically John Bolton.

We are 17 questions in, with the witness issue emerging frequently.
Dems using some questions to argue that Bolton could answer outstanding issues.
WH team saying that if Bolton were called, many other witnesses would be, too, and proceedings would drag on for months.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY): “The Senate in its history has had 15 different impeachment trials. In every single trial there were witnesses. Every single trial. Why should this president be treated differently...” https://t.co/up2CQNLRW8 pic.twitter.com/8CoK6RvYZg

Democratic senators were visibly stunned when Alan Dershowitz made his argument that Trump was acting in the public interest by pushing for investigations of Democrats because the president considers his reelection to be in the public interest.

Dems' reaction to Dershowitz's case just now would've been great TV:

- When Dersh suggested reelection concerns fit in national interest, Bernie turned to Schatz, who mouthed either "WHA" or "WOW"

- Gillibrand and Merkley made frustrated hand motions

- Slow grin from Schumer

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Impeachment: GOP leaders reportedly say they lack votes to block witnesses – live

  • Republican Collins: ‘There’s some gaps that need to be cleared up’
  • White House counsel to senators: reject articles of impeachment
  • Schiff says Trump’s lawyers ‘cannot defend president on facts’
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Though Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly told senators privately that he doesn’t have votes to block new witnesses in the impeachment trial, per multiple reports, there are still several days till senators would vote on the matter.

Senate Republicans may still block witnesses, and some GOP lawmakers are confident they’ll be able to do so, according to CNN.

While the votes aren't secured yet, GOP leaders are growing confident they can defeat a vote on witnesses following the initial alarm the Bolton book caused among Senate Rs. Many Rs amenable to argument that witnesses would drag it out with no clear end https://t.co/LKsAaRHEaS

Lev Parnas’ lawyer is expected to attend the Senate trial tomorrow.

Joseph Bondy asked Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer for gallery tickets, according to The Daily Beast, which first reported the news. Bondy’s co-counsel Stephanie Schuman is also expected to appear. Parnas himself may not be able to, as he wears an ankle monitor and electronics are banned in the trial chamber.

Lev Parnas attorney on attending Senate trial: “We are attending the trial w/ or w/o Mr. Parnas bc we believe our presence is important in reminding senators that indeed there should be witnesses heard and evidence taken and that anything short of that would not be a fair trial”

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Ivanka Trump attacks ‘smug elites’ of CNN in row over viral clip

Rick Wilson, whose joke about Trump playing to his base led to the spat, hits back at first daughter’s ‘breathtaking hypocrisy’

Ivanka Trump has waded into a row over a CNN segment in which host Don Lemon laughed as two guests ridiculed supporters of her father.

Related: How to dump Trump: Rick Wilson on Running Against the Devil

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The Fixers review: Trump, Cohen, Stormy Daniels and the porn star presidency

A guide to ‘the bottom-feeders, crooked lawyers and gossip mongers who created the 45th president’ demands to be read

In February 2019, Jeff Bezos accused David Pecker and the National Enquirer of extortion and blackmail after the tabloid published intimate pictures taken by the Amazon chief. Pecker and co denied being motivated by a desire to aid Donald Trump or receiving a major assist from Saudi Arabia. It was just about gossip.

Related: 'Click I agree': the UN rapporteur says prince tried to intimidate Bezos with message

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‘The president did nothing wrong’: key takeaways from Trump defense’s opening arguments

President’s defense repeatedly came around to a basic argument: nothing Trump did in withholding aid to Ukraine was unusual

Donald Trump’s legal defense team began their argument Saturday during a three-hour session of the impeachment proceedings against the president.

Here are the five key takeaways:

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Democrats say impeachment case ‘has been proved’ as they make final pitch – live

  • On recording Trump calls for ousting of Marie Yovanovitch
  • Impeachment managers will finish presenting opening arguments today
  • Next Trump’s lawyers will be given up to 24 hours to begin their defense
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“Give America a fair trial,” impeachment manager Adam Schiff said, wrapping up the Democrats’ opening statements. “She’s worth it.”

And just like that, Senate has adjourned for the night. The impeachment trial continues tomorrow morning.

As impeachment manager Adam Schiff continues to talk, Donald Trump has gone on a retweeting frenzy. He reposted a tweet of his from earlier today, as well as one from the Senate Republicans account, and one each from Republican senators John Barrasso and Marsha Blackburn.

This obsession with impeachment* is out of hand.

Tennesseans have their priorities straight: trade, border security, and creating jobs. pic.twitter.com/vNFjPBA2MQ

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Impeachment trial: Democrats cry hypocrisy as Republicans say ‘we’ve seen this before’ – live updates

  • Democrats continue prosecution on third day of trial
  • Jerry Nadler says Trump’s conduct ‘puts even Nixon to shame’
  • Democrats criticize Republicans, who claim house managers are repeating themselves, for not allowing new evidence
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A few more scenes from the trial chamber:

Senators and 2020 Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar reportedly shared a laugh.

On the floor, Bernie Sanders looked quite tired, ultimately got up, walked to the back of the chamber - and chatted briefly with Amy Klobuchar. She pointed to something in her binder. They both shared a laugh and Sanders retreated to the cloak room.

Sen. Tillis is not in his seat at the moment. He’s sitting watching from above in the visitor gallery, for some reason

Emphasizing that nearly $400m in congressionally-appropriated military aid to Ukraine was held up for no good reason, the impeachment manager Zoe Lofgren, with the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, sitting nearby, pointed out: “Even Senator McConnell has said ‘I was not given an explanation’ for the hold.”

The evidence is clear that Donald Trump “knowingly, willfully violated the law when he withheld the aid to Ukraine”, Lofgren said. “It shows the great lengths the president was willing to go to in order to pressure Ukraine to do his dirty work.”

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‘Our future is not assured’: Schiff issues stark warning at impeachment trial

  • Impeachment manager describes moment of historic national crisis
  • After rejecting fresh witnesses, Republicans say they heard nothing new
  • Some senators exit chamber despite trial rules

Striving to make himself heard across partisan lines, the lead impeachment prosecutor filled his opening argument against Donald Trump on the Senate floor on Wednesday with invitations, warnings and appeals designed to win Republican backing for a substantial trial.

Using flowing evocations of constitutional history, the global promise of US democracy, and the stakes should it all be allowed to slip, Democrat Adam Schiff framed his story of Trump’s wrongdoing as a national crisis demanding a non-partisan remedy.

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Trump impeachment: senators kill Democratic efforts to subpoena more evidence – live

  • First day of trial sees hours of debate over procedure
  • House manager Adam Schiff calls process ‘ass-backwards’
  • Senate votes down amendments brought by Democrats

After 13 hours of debate, Republican senators pushed through the organizing resolution for the impeachment proposed by Mitch McConnell, without any of the 11 amendments proposed by Democrats.

The trial is now adjourned until 1pm ET on Wednesday.

The final amendment proposed by minority leader Chuck Schumer would allow Chief Justice John Roberts — as a neutral party — to decide whether to allow motions to subpoena witnesses or documents.

Finally, the senators are voting on the organizing resolution for the impeachment trial, as proposed by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell.

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Impeachment: Trump wants Senate trial over before State of the Union address

Donald Trump wants his impeachment trial to end before his state of the union address in just two weeks’ time, Lindsey Graham said on Sunday.

Related: Alan Dershowitz: Trump impeachment acquittal would make me unhappy

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Rudy Giuliani once had a real chance of becoming president – and he blew it

‘America’s mayor’ led polling in the Republican primaries for almost a year in 2007. But his campaign collapsed into chaos

If things had gone a little differently, Rudy Giuliani might have been elected president in 2008.

The former New York City mayor turned Donald Trump stooge led polling in the Republican primaries for almost a year, and was seen as someone who could defeat Hillary Clinton – then the presumptive Democratic nominee – in key metropolitan areas.

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A Very Stable Genius review: dysfunction and disaster at the court of King Donald

Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, Pulitzer-winning Washington Post reporters, have produced a vital and alarming read

In January 2018, Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury made headlines as it depicted a president out of control and a White House that careened from crisis to crisis. Donald Trump threatened legal action against author and publisher. He also lauded himself and his electoral college victory: “I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius … and a very stable genius at that!”

Related: Trump 'abused' and 'harassed' Kirstjen Nielsen over border, new book reveals

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Trump legal team calls impeachment ‘brazen’ attempt to overturn 2016 election

Donald Trump’s legal team has delivered a fiery response to impeachment summons from the Senate, calling the two articles passed by the House “a dangerous attack on the right of the American people to freely choose their president”.

Related: Impeachment: is Trump set to survive and win a second term?

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Impeachment: is Trump set to survive and win a second term?

As Democrats marched the articles to the Senate, the president basked in policy success. Many think re-election is coming

It was, the White House tweeted on Friday, “an incredible week” for Donald Trump. On that, no one could disagree. But what kind of incredible depended on which end of Pennsylvania Avenue you were standing.

Related: How to dump Trump: Rick Wilson on Running Against the Devil

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‘You have to stand up to illegitimate authority’: what veteran abortion activists can teach us in the Trump era

The pioneers who struggled for legalisation in the 60s are seeing the same battles being fought all over again

The telephone sat in the dormitory hallway, and when it rang it might have been for any of the residents – young women in their teens and early 20s, all students at the University of Chicago. Calls came from family and friends and boyfriends, from colleagues and classmates and clubs. But sometimes the voice at the end of the line would ask for “Jane”.

This was 1965, and in Chicago the social justice movement was gathering pace – a new era that encompassed civil rights, student rights, women’s rights and resistance to the war in Vietnam. Among those involved was Heather Booth, a 19-year-old social sciences student from New York. Booth had spent the summer of 1964 in Mississippi, volunteering as part of the Freedom Summer project, an attempt to register as many African American voters as possible. It was an experience that had galvanised her and taught some valuable lessons: “One is that if you organise, even in what seem like the most hopeless circumstances, you can change the world,” she says. “Number two: sometimes you have to stand up to illegitimate authority.”

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Trump impeachment trial set to begin amid damaging new Ukraine revelations – live

House prosecutors to arrive at Senate to formally open trial as Lev Parnas tells reporters president was fully aware of efforts to pressure Ukraine

  • Help us cover the critical issues of 2020. Consider making a contribution

An independent government watchdog, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), said the White House budget office violated the law when it froze US military aid to Ukraine.

“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” the report said.

Yesterday, the House voted to send articles of impeachment to the Senate, setting in motion the third impeachment Senate trial in US history.

Here’s how that looks today:

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Cory Booker ends 2020 presidential campaign – live updates

Booker emailed supporters announcing move to shutter his campaign after struggling with fundraising and failing to qualify for debates

Donald Trump is having a busy day on Twitter, including going after the Democrats over their reaction to the assassination of Gen Qassem Suleimani.

“The Fake News Media and their Democrat Partners are working hard to determine whether or not the future attack by terrorist Suleimani was ‘eminent’ [sic – he means “imminent”] or not, & was my team in agreement,” the president wrote, in a tweet that was deleted and reissued, spelling fixed.

Related: Esper contradicts Trump claim Iran planned attacks on four US embassies

The Democrats and the Fake News are trying to make terrorist Suleimani into a wonderful guy, only because I did what should have been done for 20 years. Anything I do, whether it’s the economy, military, or anything else, will be scorned by the Rafical [sic] Left, Do Nothing Democrats!

The corrupted Dems trying their best to come to the Ayatollah's rescue.#NancyPelosiFakeNews pic.twitter.com/a0ksPHeXCy

Related: Iranian police fired live rounds to disperse protesters, say witnesses

Senator Cory Booker announced Monday that he is suspending his presidential campaign.

He sent the following email to supporters announcing the move:

Friend,

Nearly one year ago, I got in the race for president because I believed to my core that the answer to the common pain Americans are feeling right now, the answer to Donald Trump’s hatred and division, is to reignite our spirit of common purpose to take on our biggest challenges and build a more just and fair country for everyone.

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