Seventh Democratic amendment tabled, along party lines. And we move on to yet the next amendment... to subpoena John Bolton.
Each side gets an hour to make their case. This time, Jerrold Nadler, the representative from New York and House Judiciary chair, is arguing the Democrats’ case. Bolton, a former national security advisor, recently said he is willing to testify after resisting doing so during the impeachment inquiry. Donald Trump has said he’ll block Bolton, invoking executive privilege.
Democrats believe that Bolton has firsthand information about the president’s efforts to secure a quid pro quo with the government of Ukraine. Three Republican senators — Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins — have indicated they might want to hear from Bolton. But it’s unlikely they’ll vote to approve the amendment to subpoena Bolton today. Collins said in a statement today that she’ll consider witnesses after hearing the case, and answers to senators’ questions.
Roberts arrived at the Capitol today after hearing arguments at the Supreme Court. Photograph: Cliff Owen/AP
Chief Justice John Roberts, who has been presiding over the trial all day, will have to be up early tomorrow morning for his day job. At 10 am Eastern Time, he’s expected to hear arguments in a Supreme Court case to decide whether publicly funded religious education is constitutional.
Even today, his very long day started at the Supreme Court, where he oversaw oral arguments in two cases before heading to the Senate.
The constitution requires that the chief justice “shall preside” over an impeachment trial of a president. In practice, the role has mostly been ceremonial. Previously, chief justices have left it to a Senate parliamentarian to manage the process. Roberts could take a more hands-on approach, and compel witnesses to testify — but that’s unlikely to happen.
So far, Roberts’ role in the Senate trial has been to ask White House lawyers and impeachment managers to speak, in turn, and grant motions to take recess as needed.
It’s close to midnight in Washington DC, and the senators are taking a 5-minute break. Each of Chuck Schumer’s amendments so far have been voted down along party lines, 53-47.
Schumer has proposed yet another amendment, “to prevent the selective admission of evidence and to provide for appropriate handling of classified and confidential materials”. The amendment would require each side to provide the other any additional evidence that is gathered via a subpoena. When he asked for it to be read out loud before the break, he reassured everyone, “It’s short.”
The video feed of the trial is controlled by the Senate Recording Studio. C-SPAN asked Mitch McConnell for permission to bring in its own cameras because the existing setup “provides a restricted view of Senate floor debates”, but the Senate majority leader did not respond, the New Yorker reports.
During votes is just about the only time we get to see Senators during this impeachment trial unfortunately. The Senate cameras stay on the dais and the arguments. pic.twitter.com/x0tdXCBXt6
As a result, people at home can’t catch a glimpse of Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s bright yellow boots, or hear what lawmakers are whispering to each other in between presentations. We can’t see the expression on Lisa Murkowski’s face or snoop on what Marco Rubio is scribbling in his notebook.
TV camera crews are also restricted outside the Senate chamber — reporters aren’t allowed to approach senators directly outside.
Some news organizations have commissioned courtroom sketch artists to capture what the cameras aren’t showing.
For those who are wondering, Rubio’s office confirms that he does not use quill pens ... https://t.co/GRWyMSCnKU
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Photograph: AP
Like all the other Democratic efforts to subpoena more evidence, it was voted down along party lines — 53-47.
Minority leader Chuck Schumer has moved right on, and introduced a sixth amendment, to subpoena testimony by Robert Blair, an aide to Mick Mulvaney, and Michael Duffey, and Office of Management and Budget official.
The Democrats’ fifth amendment today is to subpoena documents from the Department of Defense. There will be two hours of debate on this impeachment as well, and it’s unclear how late the trial will go tonight.
Read The Guardian’s recap of the trial so far:
In four consecutive votes split precisely on party lines, the Senate voted down Democratic proposals to subpoena the testimony of the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney,and to subpoena documents and records from the White House, the state department and the budget office relevant to an alleged scheme by Trump to twist the powers of the presidency to extract personal political favors from Ukraine.
Each of the proposed subpoenas was defeated by a 53-47 vote. Democrats accused Republicans of failing to commit to a fair impeachment trial and of engaging in a “cover-up” of misconduct by the president.
“The president is engaged in this cover-up because he is guilty, and he knows it,” said Representative Val Demings of Florida, one of the impeachment prosecutors, referred to as “managers”, in the case.
A further opportunity for the senators to demand documents or witnesses was anticipated in the weeks ahead. But Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment manager, urged the senators to issue subpoenas before an allotted period for senators to question the legal teams.
“You should want to see these documents,” said Schiff. “You should want to know what these private emails and text messages have to say.
“The American people want a fair trial,” Schiff said. “But a great many Americans don’t believe that will happen. Let’s prove them wrong.”
Report: Senate Democrats are privately considering allowing Republicans to call Hunter Biden as a witness, in exchange for testimony from a key Trump administration official.
Though Democrats have publicly dismissed Republicans’ calls to subpoena Joe Biden’s son Hunter, privately, some senators and aides considering making an unusual deal. They’re willing to call in one of the Bidens if Republicans agree to subpoena national security advisor John Bolton, or another administration official with firsthand knowledge of the Ukraine controversy, the Washington Post reports:
The discussions about the Bidens are being closely held, and the issue is fraught for Democrats, due to the differing levels of support for Biden in a chamber stocked with presidential candidates and the clashing views on impeachment strategy. In private conversations in recent days, there has been much loathing of the Republicans’ spotlight on the Bidens among Senate Democrats, but also a fear that unless a witness deal is eventually struck, the trial could proceed without witnesses, according to party officials and Senate aides.
That predicament has led to discussions about whether, down the line, Hunter Biden or Joe Biden should be considered as part of a witness proposal. But there is hesitancy to raise the issue publicly until Senate Democratic leaders signal interest, the officials and aides said.
For the fourth time today, senators voted to kill a Democratic amendment to the impeachment trial resolution, deciding against calling Mick Mulvaney as a witness.
In October, Mulvaney admitted that Donald Trump froze nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine in part to pressure Ukranian officials into investigating Democrats. Almost immediately, he denied it.
Senate leader Mitch McConnell asked the Democrats to “stack” their amendments. Chuck Schumer refused, but said he’d be opening to having some of the votes tomorrow. “There will be a good number of votes. There’s no reason we have to do them tonight,” Schumer said.
Addressing the Democratic senators running for president, White House lawyer Pat Cipollone said the whole impeachment process was about “removing” Donald Trump from the 2020 ballot.
This wasn’t the first time Cipollone singled out the 2020 candidates. Earlier, he suggested that Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bennett were sour they couldn’t campaign this week. “ Some of you are upset because you should be in Iowa right now,” he said.
No. This is my constitutional duty. And I can do two things at once. https://t.co/SBqu4EMGaC
The first day of the trial has been far less dramatic than expected. The Guardian’s David Smith fills in what the Senate cameras aren’t showing:
This moment had been much hyped by cable TV but viewers hoping for the political equivalent of the OJ Simpson trial were in for a disappointment. There was no prisoner in the dock; Trump is thousands of miles away in Davos. This was reality TV without the reality TV president.
There was, however, the California Democrat Adam Schiff, the lead House manager in the impeachment trial, who once wrote a screenplay for a Hollywood crime thriller. He was not quite Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men or Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men, but he did put Republicans on the spot over their pledge on oath to be impartial jurors.
“The American people want a fair trial. They want to believe their system of government is still capable of rising to the occasion,” Schiff entreated. “They want to believe we can rise above party and do what’s best for the country, but a great many Americans don’t believe that will happen. Let’s prove them wrong. Let’s prove them wrong!”
In the Hollywood version, the chamber erupted in applause, heavenly horns played and a solitary tear trickled down McConnell’s face. In the Washington version, however, Republicans sat or slouched expressionless or studied papers on their desks, while McConnell fixed Schiff with a death stare as if intent on turning him to stone.
