White House counsel says prosecution aims to pull off ‘the most massive interference in an election in American history’
Welcome to Day One of the Trump Show.
It was, admittedly, an inauspicious start to what was teased as a “trailer” for the rollicking show to come next week in the historic impeachment trial of Donald Trump.
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s lawyers began making their case Saturday, with a longer, more meaningful session expected for Monday
Donald Trump’s legal team on Saturday argued that Donald Trump broke no laws and Democrats’ move to impeach him was simply an attempt to delegitimize Trump’s presidency.
Related: The key takeaways from day three of the impeachment trial
Continue reading...White House tried to hide records of Trump’s call with Ukrainian president and block whistleblower complaint, say Democrats
Democrats concluded the presentation of their case against Donald Trump at his impeachment trial on Friday, with the lead prosecutor Adam Schiff calling on Republicans to exercise “moral courage” and vote in favor of calling witnesses at the trial next week.
“Give America a fair trial,” Schiff concluded after three marathon days of argument. “She’s worth it.”
Continue reading...On the fourth day of Trump's trial for impeachment in the US senate, impeachment manager Hakeem Jeffries warned that the president's actions toward Ukraine had put the country in jeopardy.
The New York Democrat also warned of a 'toxic mess' emanating from the White House, that 'is our collective job on behalf of the people to try and clean up'.
“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
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.”
Continue reading...Donald Trump put his personal political interests ahead of his country’s national security and free and fair elections, prosecutors at his impeachment trial on Capitol Hill said on Thursday, telling US senators: “This conduct is not ‘America first’. It is Donald Trump first.”
Democratic impeachment managers, who are acting as the prosecutors bringing the case for Trump’s removal from office, were spending a second day in Washington laying out their case against Trump in only the third presidential impeachment trial in American history.
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That wraps up the second full day of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. Catch up on The Guardian’s coverage:
Related: 'Our future is not assured': Schiff issues stark warning at impeachment trial
Report: Tomorrow, the Trump administration is expected to finalize a rule to strip away environmental protections for streams, rivers, and wetlands.
Under the new regulations, for the first time in decades, landlords and businesses will be allowed to dump pollutants and pesticides directly into bodies of water.
From Day 1 of his administration, President Trump vowed to repeal President Barack Obama’s “Waters of the United States” regulation, which had frustrated rural landowners...
“I terminated one of the most ridiculous regulations of all: the last administration’s disastrous Waters of the United States rule,” Mr. Trump told the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual convention in Texas on Sunday, to rousing applause. He added, “That was a rule that basically took your property away from you.”
Related: 'Our future is not assured': Schiff issues stark warning at impeachment trial
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Chuck Schumer, the US Senate minority leader, said Donald Trump’s defence team appeared 'unprepared, confused and unconvincing' during the first day of debate at the president’s impeachment trial on Tuesday.
All but one Republican voted against the amendments offered by Democrats, which was approved by the Senate on a party line vote in the early hours of Wednesday morning
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
Continue reading...Can Republicans divorce themselves from a demagogue? The impeachment trial’s first day offers little hope
A lone figure in a blue suit slipped quietly into the front row of the US Senate public gallery just before 3.30pm on Tuesday and gazed down at his former colleagues.
Jeff Flake, the former Republican senator from Arizona, had returned to Washington to witness two trials. One was that of an impeached American president accused of strong-arming a foreign government for his own political ends. The other was a trial of the conscience of the Republican party.
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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.
Continue reading...While a conviction is unlikely, some Republican senators such as Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins could break ranks over trial procedure while two Democrats could back the president
The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has pledged “total coordination” with the White House in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. But the 47-member Democratic caucus in the Senate could take control of key parts of the process, enabling them to call witnesses or merely to prevent a quick dismissal of the case, by recruiting four Republicans to make a 51-seat majority.
A two-thirds majority of 67 senators would be needed to convict and remove Trump from office, a seemingly unreachable number for Democrats.
Continue reading...White House’s brief also claimed process has been a ‘charade’ and Trump did ‘absolutely nothing wrong’ in dealings with Ukraine
Lawyers acting on behalf of Donald Trump on Monday branded the impeachment case against him “flimsy” and a “dangerous perversion of the constitution”, setting the stage for the opening of his long-awaited Senate trial on Tuesday.
As the president prepared to jet off to Davos, where he is set to give a keynote speech at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, the White House submitted its formal trial defence brief, a 110-page document in which it also claimed the impeachment process has been a “charade” and insisted Trump did “absolutely nothing wrong” in his dealings with Ukraine.
Continue reading...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
Continue reading...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?
Continue reading...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
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s legal team for the impeachment trial will include Starr, Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz and Robert Ray
A delegation from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) is in Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Mexico today as part of an investigation into the Trump administration’s Remain in Mexico policy and the use of tent courts to process those cases.
Thousands of families are trapped in limbo at the Matamoros, Mexico refugee camp because of @realDonaldTrump's disastrous #RemainInMexico policy. No one should ever be subjected to these inhumane living conditions. No one. We are better than this. #DemsAtTheBorder pic.twitter.com/jovxC3WhHY
The conditions in the camps are heartbreaking. They get water rationed from a bucket. They see a doctor in what looks like a large portapotty. There are so many children. Before Trump’s #RemainInMexico policy these families could wait in the US for their asylum court dates. pic.twitter.com/FNcpGlF5rM
A jury of seven men and five women were picked for the disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial today after a two-week selection process in which scores of people were dismissed.
Opening statements are expected to begin on Wednesday.
During jury selection, prosecutors had accused Weinstein’s lawyers of systematically trying to keep young women off the panel, though the final makeup of the jury turned out to be more closely balanced.
For its part, the defense raised an outcry and demanded a mistrial because one of the jurors is the author of an upcoming novel about young women dealing with predatory older men. The request was denied, but Weinstein’s lawyers continued to claim outside court that the juror had withheld the information on her questionnaire.
Related: More than 100 women protest Trump and Weinstein with anti-rape anthem
Continue reading...Dershowitz is known for defending Jeffrey Epstein while Starr led the investigation that culminated in Bill Clinton’s impeachment
The White House has unveiled Donald Trump’s legal team for his Senate impeachment trial, a list of attorneys whose own ageing controversies threaten to overshadow their efforts to defend the president.
As the impeachment process enters a major new phase next week, Trump’s defense team will include Alan Dershowitz, known for defending the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and Kenneth Starr, the dogged prosecutor who led the investigation that culminated in the 1998 impeachment of former president Bill Clinton and lost a university post in 2016 for mishandling sexual assaults on campus.
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