Senate may push final President Trump trial vote to next week
WASHINGTON — The Senate is considering pushing off final acquittal in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial until next week under a proposal being negotiated Friday by party leaders.The situation remained fluid, but senators have indicated they want more time to publicly debate the charges and air their positions on the coming vote, according to a Republican familiar with the proposal but unauthorized to discuss it.
Key questions asked during impeachment trial of President Trump
WASHINGTON — There were questions about quid pro quos and whistleblowers, the Constitution and an unpublished book.Senators in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial posed dozens of questions to White House lawyers and to House Democrats prosecuting the case.
President Trump defense: Ukraine 'quid pro quo' not impeachable
WASHINGTON — In a striking shift from President Donald Trump’s claims of “perfect” dealings with Ukraine, his defense asserted Wednesday at his Senate trial that a trade of U.S. military aid for political favors — even if proven — could not be grounds for his impeachment.President Trump's defenders relied on retired professor Alan Dershowitz, a member of their team, who told senators that every politician conflates his own interest with the public interest. "It cannot be impeachable,” he declared.Democrats are pressing hard to force the Senate to call more witnesses to testify, but Republicans appear intently focused on bringing the impeachment trial to a vote of acquittal, possibly in a matter of days.
President Trump impeachment trial gets more pointed with Bolton book at the center
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's impeachment trial shifted swiftly to pointed, back-and-forth questioning Wednesday as Republicans strained to contain the fallout over John Bolton's forthcoming book, which threatens their hopes of ending the trial with a quick acquittal.The day started simply enough.
President Trump: New trade deal with Canada, Mexico to boost US growth
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law a major rewrite of the rules of trade with Canada and Mexico that he said replaces the “nightmare" of a Clinton-era agreement and will keep jobs, wealth and growth in America.President Trump made renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement a priority during his 2016 campaign, although trade experts say the impact of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be modest.“This is a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art agreement that protects, defends, and serves the great people of our country,” President Trump said in an outdoor signing ceremony at the White House, where the invitation list included more than 70 Republican members of Congress but no Democratic legislators. “Together we are building a glorious future that is raised, grown, built and made right here in the glorious U.S.A."Canada and Mexico already represent the top two export markets for U.S. goods.
President Trump team concludes defense, argues against calling John Bolton
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's legal team argued forcefully against the relevance of testimony from President Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton on Tuesday as they concluded their defense and the Senate braced for debate on whether to summon Bolton and other witnesses into the impeachment trial.“This should end now, as quickly as possible," White House counsel Pat Cipollone declared, capping a defense presentation that painted President Trump as a victim and took dismissive swipes at Bolton, the potential witness who has scrambled Republican hopes for a swift end to the trial.A day after the defense team largely brushed past Bolton, attorney Jay Sekulow addressed the controversy head-on by dismissing his manuscript — said to contradict a key defense argument about President Trump's dealings with Ukraine — as “inadmissible." The argument was meant to preempt calls from Democrats for witnesses including Bolton, who writes in a forthcoming book that President Trump told him he wanted to withhold military aid from Ukraine until it helped with investigations into Democratic rival Joe Biden.“It is not a game of leaks and unsourced manuscripts," Sekulow said.The argument built on a separate one Monday night from President Trump attorney Alan Dershowitz, who said that nothing in the manuscript — even if true — rises to the level of an impeachable offense.
President Trump plan calls for Palestinian state, settlement freeze
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump unveiled his long-awaited Middle East peace plan Tuesday, calling for the creation of a State of Palestine with its capital in portions of east Jerusalem, saying it is a “win-win” opportunity for both Israel and the Palestinians.The plan calls for the creation of a State of Palestine with its capital in portions of east Jerusalem, ending speculation as to whether his administration, in preparing a proposal without input from Palestinian leaders, would abandon a "two-state resolution" to the conflict.President Trump, releasing the plan before a pro-Israel audience at the White House with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his side, acknowledged that he has done a lot for Israel, but he said he wanted the deal to be a “great deal for the Palestinians.” President Trump said the deal is a "historic opportunity" for Palestinians to achieve an independent state of their own.The plan more than doubles the territory currently under Palestinian control, although it also recognizes Israeli sovereignty over major settlement blocs in the West Bank, something to which the Palestinians will almost certainly object.
VP Mike Pence will attend Wisconsin School Choice Student Showcase in Madison Jan. 28
MADISON -- Vice President Mike Pence will attend the Wisconsin School Choice Student Showcase in Madison on Tuesday, Jan. 28.VP Pence will deliver remarks at the showcase -- an event organized by Hispanics for School Choice in celebration of National School Choice Week, according to a news release from VP Pence's office.The visit will take place exactly two weeks after President Donald Trump's rally in Milwaukee.
Defense resumes in key impeachment week; Democrats seek witnesses
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's impeachment trial enters a pivotal week as his defense team resumes its case and senators face a critical vote on whether to hear witnesses or proceed directly to a vote that is widely expected to end in his acquittal.
'Can't be a quid pro quo without the quo:' Pres. Trump's lawyers poke holes in case for impeachment
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Donald Trump's lawyers poked holes in the case for impeachment as their opening statements began Saturday, Jan. 25 after three days of speeches from House Democratic impeachment managers.After three days of Democrats' opening statements, President Trump's lawyers broke their Senate floor silence Saturday."They try to overcome the devastating evidence against them by apparently claiming to be mind readers," said Michael Purpura, White House deputy counsel. "They know what's in President Zelensky's mind better than President Zelensky does."
President Trump lawyer says Democrats want to 'overturn' last election
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's lawyers opened their impeachment trial defense on Saturday by asserting that he “did absolutely nothing wrong" when he asked Ukraine to investigate a political rival, Joe Biden.
President Trump, a late convert to cause, attends anti-abortion rally
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump vowed to stand with anti-abortion activists Friday as he became the first sitting president to speak at the March for Life, an annual gathering that is one of the movement's highest-profile and most symbolic events.“Today as President of the United States, I am truly proud to stand with you," he told a crowd of thousands braving the cold on the National Mall. “Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House.”It was just four years ago when a political committee supporting one of President Trump's Republican rivals unveiled an ad slamming his views on abortion, complete with footage from a 1999 interview in which he declared, “I am pro-choice in every respect."But on Friday, President Trump was hailed in speeches and on signs as “the most pro-life" American president ever.The reception was yet another sign of his remarkable political transformation and the fact that white evangelicals and conservative Christians remain among President Trump's most loyal backers.
President Trump touts logo for new Space Force, with nod to Star Trek
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon's new U.S. Space Force is not Star Trek's Starfleet Command, but their logos bear a striking similarity.President Donald Trump unveiled the Space Force logo Friday, writing on Twitter that he had consulted with military leaders and designers before presenting the blue-and-white symbol, which features an arrowhead shape centered on a planetary background and encircled by the words, “United States Space Force” and “Department of the Air Force.”The logo, which bears the date 2019 in Roman numerals, also is similar in design to that of Air Force Space Command, from which Space Force was created by legislation that President Trump signed in last month.
Dems say oust President Trump or he'll do it again; 'he is who he is'
WASHINGTON — Democratic House prosecutors launched their final arguments Friday at Donald Trump's impeachment trial arguing the president will persist in abusing the power of his office ahead of the 2020 election unless Congress intervenes to remove him from office.“He is who he is," Rep.
Report: Recording links President Trump to Ukraine ambassador ouster
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump can be heard in a taped 2018 conversation saying he wants to get rid of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, whose removal a year later emerged as an issue in President Trump's impeachment.
Democrats say constitution backs up case to impeach President Trump: 'A continuing threat'
WASHINGTON -- Senators judge the case on which the nation is divided.
Democrats focus Day 2 of impeachment trial on President Trump's 'dangerous' abuse
WASHINGTON — Pressing through a second day of impeachment arguments, House Democrats scoffed at President Donald Trump's claims that he had good reasons for pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political foes.It was President Trump who engaged in a shocking abuse of power, not former Vice President Joe Biden or other President Trump foes, said Rep.
President Trump to address party leaders amid impeachment, reelection
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is set to address his party's leadership Thursday to rally their support amid impeachment and a trying reelection fight.The 168-member Republican National Committee is holding its winter meeting at President Trump's golf resort outside Miami.The GOP's governing body last year pledged its “undivided support” for President Trump.
Republicans say there’s ‘no evidence, no facts’ in Trump impeachment
WASHINGTON — Republican Attorneys General stood outside the Capitol, calling on the Senate to reject the Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump.South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson says he delivered the letter to Senator Lindsay Graham this morning.“In that letter, we are outlining the problems, both factual and legal with the Articles of Impeachment that were passed last month by the United States House of Representatives,” said Wilson.The group accuses the House of Representatives of impeaching President Trump as a politically motivated response to the 2016 Presidential Election.Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge says the Articles of Impeachment would not hold up in a court of law.“As a prosecutor, I would have been ashamed to bring such a case with no evidence, no facts before a jury,” said Rutledge.Despite their request, House managers are expected to make their case before the Senate Thursday and Friday.