Posted on 01/21/2020 12:40:52 PM PST by Red Badger
KEY POINTS Senate Democrats won two key last minute changes to the rules of Trump’s impeachment trial.
Each side will now have three days to make its opening statements, instead of two.
The Senate will also automatically admit evidence from the House investigation into Trump last fall.
WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats won two key changes to the rules of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial as proceedings kicked off Tuesday afternoon.
The changes will permit each side to stretch out the 24 total hours they’ve been allotted for making arguments over three days, instead of two, as McConnell had initially proposed. The changes will also automatically admit into evidence the entire record of the House impeachment probe into Trump last fall.
The surprise last-minute changes were revealed Tuesday afternoon during a formal reading on the Senate floor of the resolution governing the rules of the trial. A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer later confirmed the changes to CNBC.
“After massive pressure from Senate Democrats and the public, Senator McConnell has made two changes to his organizing resolution for the Senate impeachment trial,” Schumer aide Justin Goodman said in an email.
“1. The House record will now automatically be admitted into evidence (under McConnell’s’ original resolution, the Senate would have to vote to add it in) 2. Each side now has three days to make their opening statements (McConnell’s original resolution said it had to be done over two days),” Goodman wrote.
A spokesman for McConnell did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how the change came about. But one clue to McConnell’s thinking may lie in the fact that there are distinct benefits for Trump and the GOP in how Tuesday’s events unfolded.
McConnell is known for his exceptionally shrewd use of Senate rules to help him accomplish political objectives, and his last minute changes to the trial rules seem to have been no exception.
While the decision might initially look like a concession to the Democrats, it served McConnell’s aims, as well. By waiting as long as he did to announce the changes, McConnell ensured that his Democratic counterparts spent the day before the trial focused primarily on objecting to the specifics of those two rules.
“McConnell seems to want a trial with no existing evidence and no new evidence,” Schumer said at a Tuesday morning press conference. “A trial with no evidence is not a trial at all. It is a cover-up.”
Schumer also accused McConnell of proposing the short timeline in order to keep the public from watching the trial on TV, by forcing each day’s proceedings to stretch well past midnight, when most people have gone to bed.
But by essentially keeping Schumer busy fighting for evidence and more time, McConnell ensured that there would be lesser focus on a third, equally contentious issue in the rules: Whether the Senate will hear from live witnesses.
The outcome of a debate over witnesses could have far more serious implications for the president than a debate over whether to limit opening arguments to two days or three.
In a surprise move earlier this month, former Trump national security adviser John Bolton formally announced that he would be willing to testify in a Senate trial if he were subpoenaed to do so. Bolton was at the center of the White House national security apparatus during key moments at issue in the impeachment articles, and should he actually testify under oath, Bolton’s account would likely be damaging to the president.
Trump is charged with abusing his power by withholding foreign aid to Ukraine in order to force the country to launch high-profile investigations into Trump’s political opponents. He is also charged with obstructing Congress by prohibiting top aides from testifying before the House last year. He has denied any wrongdoing.
McConnell has so far said that senators will be asked to vote on the witness question later in the trial, after they’ve heard arguments from each side. But Democrats say that amounts to voting on witnesses after the trial is essentially over.
The final rules also leave open the option of holding a vote to dismiss the charges against Trump outright, via a motion on the Senate floor. While only a simple 51-vote majority would be required to pass that motion, a handful of the 53 Republicans in the chamber have suggested they would not vote to dismiss the charges.
Still, it is highly unlikely that two-thirds of the Senate will vote to convict and remove a Republican president. Trump is only the third president in American history to be impeached, and so far no Senate Republicans have said they will vote to convict him.
Opening arguments in the trial are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, and continue well into next week.
This Bolton thing is red herring. OF course he will testify is subpoened. EVERYONE will IF the subpoena is proper and goes through the courts.
Does that make Schumer a wooly bully?
How likely? Why?It would "likely" be damaging because Bolton knows so much more than everyone else, is a career diplomat and the President is just a no-nothing slack-jawed rube. Doncha know?
It’s way past time to stop this Rat bullshit.
-—”Those aren’t key changes. They are absolutely minor. The second in particular is likely a good thing. Admitting automatically all the evidence introduced in the House means that it doesn’t have to be introduced separately into the Senate via testimony. It also permits GOP Senators to state that they had access to the exact same evidence as the House.”-—
Bingo. Of course it gets spun as a Dem win of some sort. really dumb.
Yes, that is the key question. If the answer is yes, these were good changes for Trump and the Republicans. If no, then its a bad deal—but will allow the Republicans to turn around and claim that it is now the Democrats who are suppressing evidence.
Trump isn’t going to let Bolton testify.
He’s already said so.
The Senate has to try the Articles that passed the House, not theoretical or proposed Articles that didn’t.
“Obstruction of Congress” should obviously be dismissed for want of basis.
Key to what drawing this fiasco on longer than necessary.
Put this thing to bed, yesterday
They should be given a maximum time of 2 hours. How long can we listen to Dem lies?
Thought of that line many times during the last few weeks.
Yes the House should have issued subpoenas to Trump cabinet officials if they had wanted that testimony. That was just stupid of them not to ask questions from the people who were actually in the room when the deals were being cut.
So now Trump gets to present Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and all the Sunday shows will be offering a preview... meanwhile the Dems get a Friday.
Probably a win for Trump.
“The Senate will also automatically admit evidence from the House investigation into Trump last fall.”
What evidence would that be? I’m just sayin’
Agree.
Keep informed and be prepared
Kavanaugh II
Look to see women Trump has never met or talked to.
It also gives Collins, etc., something they can claim as a victory for having “stood up” to McConnell. Perhaps it was even staged for their benefit, so they can run for reelection and claim not to have been just McConnell’s lackeys, something of which they undoubtedly be accused.
Do they really think many people are going to watch this? I am very interested in politics and I will be watching almost NONE. If something pops up that is interesting, I will hear about it.
Those aren’t key changes. They are absolutely minor. The second in particular is likely a good thing. Admitting automatically all the evidence introduced in the House means that it doesn’t have to be introduced separately into the Senate via testimony. It also permits GOP Senators to state that they had access to the exact same evidence as the House.
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You are absolutely correct!
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