Free Republic

WASHINGTON — House Democrats were prepared and passionate as they laid out over three draining days in the Senate a detailed argument for impeaching and removing President Trump. What they do not appear to have been is persuasive to the critical handful of Republicans who hold the key to their immediate objective: gaining access to witnesses and documents that could cement their case..... “The House made a decision that they didn’t want to slow things down by having to go through courts,” Ms. Murkowski said. “And yet now they’re basically saying ‘You guys — the Senate — got to go...

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), the House Democrats’ lead impeachment manager, argued against the Senate Republicans’ proposed trial rules Tuesday by analogizing the impeachment process to a criminal trial. As a former federal prosecutor, he knows exactly how disingenuous that analogy is. Federal criminal trials are governed by the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. One might argue that the entire analogy falls at the outset, as the House Democrats’ articles of impeachment do not claim that President Trump committed a crime. But overlooking that minor point, the House’s procedure failed every test those rules establish. The latest Trump impeachment trial...

House Democrats charged with prosecuting the impeachment case against President Trump on Wednesday scaled back their fiery language following a rare scolding from Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., as they began laying out their case for Trump’s removal from office for pressuring Ukraine to help him win reelection. But as Democrats softened their tone if not their message, Trump and his fellow Republicans dialed up their partisan rhetoric, with GOP senators largely ignoring Roberts’s admonition and leveling scathing attacks against the trial’s prosecutors.... The Republican barrage was led by Trump himself, who in Davos, Switzerland, called the top House...

Schiff warns of Russian attack on US mainland, the need to protect 2020 election in Day 2 of Trump's Senate impeachment trial. The Russians could attack the U.S. and removing President Trump from office is necessary to preserve the integrity of the 2020 election. Those were the claims Wednesday from Democrat Adam Schiff on Wednesday during Day 2 of Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. The lengthy arguments from Schiff and other House Democrats broke little new ground, if any. Trump's lawyers sat by, waiting their turn, as the president blasted the proceedings from afar, jokingly threatening to face off with the...

Just wondering - I've seen all of the headlines filled with wishful thinking - Mitt Romney pledges to have ‘open mind’ during Trump impeachment trial Collins and Romney hold the keys in the impeachment trial. Here’s what they signaled on Day One. Keith Watts: Time for Utah’s senators to make us proud Republican senators consider turning on Trump as impeachment trial set to start Handful of key Senate Republicans will determine whether to call witnesses at President Trump's trial

California Rep. Adam Schiff kicked off the House Democrats' three-day opening case against President Trump by accusing him of trying to "cheat" in the 2020 election through his Ukraine dealings, following a raucous first day of impeachment trial speeches in the Senate that lasted into the middle of the night. Trump "attempt[ed] to use the powers of the presidency to cheat in an election," Schiff, the top House Democratic impeachment manager, said in kicking off the House's case against Trump. He argued the only remedy is impeachment -- going so far as to question the legitimacy of this year's presidential...

NEW YORK (AP) -- CBS was the first major network to break away from President Donald Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate on Tuesday, allowing its viewers to watch their regular afternoon fare instead of a debate over a proposed amendment to subpoena White House documents. The decision illustrated the on-the-fly judgments television executives will face every day of the trial, juggling concerns over millions of dollars in advertising revenue, news purists cognizant of the weight of history and angry soap opera fans. Uncertainty over the Senate's schedule from hour to hour, much less day to day, complicates things even...

After Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) proposed an amendment Tuesday to the rules for President Trump’s impeachment trial in order to subpoena witnesses and documents from the White House, it failed in a party-line vote. All 53 Republicans in the GOP-controlled Senate voted against Schumer’s amendment, which asked for any records created by former national-security adviser John Bolton, Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, and Mulvaney aide Robert Blair regarding the White House’s dealings with Ukraine. **SNIP** “We’re very glad they moved to three days instead of two so we won’t be hearing arguments at two in the...

Sen. Bernie Sanders l-Vt., is hoping for a fast impeachment trial so he can resume his campaigning in Iowa ahead of the upcoming caucuses -- but according to Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., the "establishment Democrats" are hoping to drag out the process and occupy the senator in order to hand the nomination to his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden. "You have establishment Republicans like Mitt Romney working against Donald Trump. Then, you have establishment Democrats working against Bernie Sanders," Gaetz said Monday on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "They’re trying to give Joe Biden the field in Iowa and keep Bernie...

Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, one of the House impeachment managers, said the question of whether witnesses are heard in President Trump's Senate impeachment trial may have to be settled by Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, who will be presiding over the trial. But, he warned that witnesses like Hunter Biden, former Vice President Joe Biden's son, are "immaterial" and would constitute an "abuse" of the Senate trial. **SNIP** One of the names that's been floated for Republicans is Hunter Biden, who was on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma while his father was vice president. "It would certainly...

The House Democrats who will make the case for President Trump’s removal from office face a rapid briefing schedule and uncertain trial rules before squaring off against Trump’s defense team on Tuesday for the first time in their four-month investigation. The seven impeachment managers face multiple challenges as they take their case out of the confines of the House and into the Republican-controlled Senate. For one, they are facing a skeptical, if not openly hostile, jury in the 53-seat GOP majority that will be able to set the rules of engagement for the trial. While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell...

As the Senate officially embarked Thursday on an impeachment trial against a president for just the third time in U.S. history, Senate Republicans pressed ahead amid two bombshells about President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine. The news could have thrown a wrench into the proceedings and pressured Republicans to be concerned about probable wrongdoing. But GOP senators appeared apathetic to the findings of a government watchdog agency that determined Trump violated the law by withholding military aid from Ukraine and that new evidence further detailed the president's efforts to force the ouster of a former ambassador and pressure Ukraine to...

Members of the senate took an oath on Thursday to uphold "impartial justice" as President Trump's impeachment trial gets underway. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath to senators, who were standing at their desks on the Senate floor with their right hands raised. "Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help you god?" Roberts asked senators. Senators then walked down to the front of the chamber...

When the impeachment proceedings against President Trump begin again next week, he won't be the only one facing scrutiny, Rep. Jerry Nadler said. "The Senate is on trial as well as the president," Nadler said during a Wednesday press conference. "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?” **SNIP** "The emphasis is on litigators and on making the strongest possible case to the American people," the speaker said. Nadler, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called into questioned the integrity...

Two things happened simultaneously on Wednesday: (a) The House of Representatives transmitted to the Senate two articles of impeachment approved on straight partisan lines a month ago, and (b) the House’s impeachment inquiry - yes, it’s still very much alive - highlighted new, relevant evidence it has turned up about the activities in Ukraine of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and Giuliani’s associates. The Democrats’ strategy is coming clear. The House provided the Senate with two half-baked impeachment articles. House Democrats rushed through the investigation, forgoing salient witnesses and evidence, because of the political calendar. The charges are weak...

The rules for senators during President Donald Trump's impeachment trial effectively turn them into high school students. They are not allowed to use their iPhones, they have to keep quiet, and they must remain seated during the process. "During the impeachment proceedings, standing will not be permitted on the floor and this requirement will be strictly enforced. Accordingly, all senators are requested to remain in their seats at all times they are on the Senate floor during the impeachment proceedings," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a letter on Wednesday. **SNIP** In addition...

LOS ANGELES – Attorney Michael Avenatti was arrested by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents Tuesday evening during a break in a disciplinary hearing in Los Angeles over allegations that the high-profile lawyer scammed a client out of $840,000. The arrest occurred around 6 p.m. outside the State Bar Court, where the State Bar of California has initiated proceedings against him. * * * Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, told Fox News that Avenatti was arrested on suspicion of violating his pre-trial release. * * * Avenatti was supposed to travel to New York...

The Senate is poised to launch into an impeachment trial for President Trump as early as next Tuesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, as warring factions on Capitol Hill ended an impasse that had left the entire process in limbo for nearly four weeks.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff skirted around the question of whether he would adhere to a subpoena to testify in a Senate impeachment trial against President Trump. The California Democrat, who led the House impeachment hearings, claimed during Monday's episode of The View that submitting to Republican witness demands would turn the trial into a "sham." Referring to Trump's tweet over the weekend calling for Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi be witnesses, co-host Abby Huntsman, who announced she is leaving The View after two seasons to help run her father’s gubernatorial campaign in Utah, asked, "Would you, if...

Chuck Schumer lost the first impeachment trial battle to Mitch McConnell. But the Democratic leader and his party insist they can still win the war. While Senate Majority Leader McConnell has locked up enough Republican votes to ignore demands for a bipartisan framework for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, his Democratic counterpart is readying a counteroffensive. Schumer will force a series of votes designed to squeeze vulnerable Republicans and harm them on the campaign trail if they side with Trump. Democrats argue the half-dozen at-risk GOP senators will need some daylight between them and Trump to get reelected. And if...