House impeachment managers make their case to remove President Trump from office
WASHINGTON -- House impeachment managers rest on day one of their opening statements -- they'll pick up the case again Thursday, Jan. 23.
President Trump's trial opens on fast track, Dems arguing for removal
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate began hearing opening arguments Wednesday in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial with proceedings now on a fast track.
Impeachment trial underway, FOX6's Jason Calvi to provide in-depth updates
MILWAUKEE -- FOX6 News is committed to bringing you the most thorough coverage of the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump -- for as long as the trial goes.Throughout the impeachment trial, we plan to broadcast and stream the opening proceedings on FOX6, TV 6.2 as well as on FOX6Now.com, the FOX6 News app and on the FOX6 News Milwaukee Facebook page.
Senate approves impeachment trial rules, rejecting witnesses
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate plunged into President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial with Republicans abruptly abandoning plans to cram opening arguments into two days but solidly rejecting Democratic demands for more witnesses to expose what they deem President Trump’s “trifecta” of offenses.The daylong session started Tuesday with the setback for Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and the president's legal team, but it ended near 2 a.m. Wednesday with Republicans easily approving the rest of the trial rules largely on their terms.
US, France reach tax deal averting broader trade war
DAVOS, Switzerland — France will delay its tax on the digital business of big tech firms like Google and Facebook in exchange for the United States' promise to hold off retaliatory sanctions - a deal that could avert a broader trade dispute.Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Wednesday he had agreed on the truce with U.S. Treasury chief Steven Mnuchin, at a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.Le Maire said France would delay collection of the digital tax until December - through the next U.S. election cycle, potentially easing pressure for President Donald Trump as he seeks reelection.But the French minister said his country would never scrap it entirely until an international accord can be reached.“Digital companies will pay their fair tax in 2020,” Le Maire told reporters in Davos.The U.S., in turn, will hold off imposing retaliatory tariffs that it had threatened to slap tariffs on French wine, cheese and other products.The move appears to dial down the risk of a wider trade war between the United States and the European Union, of which France is part.
Rules debated as impeachment trial of President Donald Trump got underway
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell backed off some of his proposed rules for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial on Tuesday, Jan. 21, easing plans for a tight two-day schedule and agreeing that House evidence would be included.
President Trump impeachment trial to begin with rules fight, long days
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is set to unfold at the Capitol, a contentious proceeding to render judgment on his Ukraine actions as Americans form their own verdict at the start of an election year.As the Senate reconvenes with Chief Justice John Roberts presiding over the rare impeachment court, senators sworn to “impartial justice,” the legacy of President Trump's presidency and the system of checks and balances are at stake before a politically divided nation.A first test will come midday Tuesday when the session gavels open to vote on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's proposed rules for debate.On the eve of the trial, the Republican leader offered a compressed calendar for opening statements, just two days for each side, as President Trump's lawyers argued for swift rejection of the “flimsy” charges against the president and acquittal.“All of this is a dangerous perversion of the Constitution that the Senate should swiftly and roundly condemn," the president's lawyers wrote in their first full filing Monday. “The articles should be rejected and the president should immediately be acquitted.”Democrats — as the House prosecutors practiced opening arguments well into the night on the Senate floor — vowed to object to a speedy trial as they pressed for fresh witnesses and documents.Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned of a “cover-up” with McConnell's plan that could lead to back-to-back 12-hour days.“It’s clear Sen.
President Trump lauds US economy in Davos, says little on climate woes
DAVOS, Switzerland — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he's led a “spectacular” turnaround of the U.S. economy and urged the world to invest in America, but had less to say about climate change issues that are a focus of this year's gathering of top business and political leaders in the Swiss Alps.President Trump kept to his speech script and did not mention the historic impeachment trial that was set to reconvene in the U.S. Senate in Washington later Tuesday.
Buckle up: What to watch as President Trump's impeachment trial takes off
WASHINGTON — Senators like to float above messy politics in what's known by some as the dignified “upper chamber," home of Congress' cooler heads and lofty rhetoric.But as a court of President Donald Trump's impeachment, the Senate beginning Tuesday might seem more like the economy cabin of an oversold flight on an especially tense, mandatory work trip.Rock star legal teams will cram the airy well of the chamber just a few feet from each other and Chief Justice John Roberts.
As trial nears, President Trump's lawyers call impeachment case 'flimsy'
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's legal team asserted Monday that he did “absolutely nothing wrong," calling the impeachment case against him “flimsy" and a “dangerous perversion of the Constitution." The lawyers decried the impeachment process as rigged and insisted that abuse of power was not a crime.The brief from President Trump's lawyers, filed before arguments expected this week in the Senate impeachment trial, offered the most detailed glimpse of the lines of defense they intend to use against Democratic efforts to convict the president and oust him from office over his dealings with Ukraine.It is meant as a counter to a filing two days ago from House Democrats that summarized weeks of testimony from more than a dozen witnesses in laying out the impeachment case.The 110-page filing from the White House shifted the tone toward a more legal response.
Officials: 11 US troops flown to medical centers after Iran strike
WASHINGTON — Eleven U.S. troops were flown out of Iraq for evaluation of concussion-like symptoms in the days following an Iranian missile strike that President Donald Trump had said caused no harm to American forces, officials said Friday.The Pentagon's chief spokesman, Jonathan Hoffman, said Defense Secretary Mark Esper did not know of the injuries until he was told Thursday afternoon that the 11 troops had been sent for evaluation at U.S. medical facilities — eight in Germany and three in Kuwait.
Wisconsin Senators prepared for President Trump impeachment trial: 'A unique responsibility'
WASHINGTON -- Both Wisconsin Senators -- Ron Johnson (R) and Tammy Baldwin (D) -- pledge to be impartial.
President Trump rolls out new guidelines for prayer in school
WASHINGTON — The Trump Administration rolled out new guidelines Thursday afternoon to protect prayer in public schools.He also rolled back restrictions on religious groups who receive federal funding, saying if they’re treated differently than non-religious groups, that’s a form of discrimination.“Prayer in public school has always been an important part of our nation’s history,” according to Chase Windebank.Before Windebank graduated from his Colorado Springs High School, he took his own school to court.“We wound up getting banned by the administrators for praying during free time,” he said.Today, Windebank and other students who say they experienced religious persecution were invited to the White House as the president rolled out new guidelines to protect prayer in school.And in addition to the president, ten federal agencies are expected to release new guidelines they say will prevent discrimination against groups with religious affiliations.Joe Grogen, President Trump’s Domestic Policy Council Director says religious groups shouldn’t be required to find secular alternatives for people who come to them for help but are uncomfortable with their religious ideals.“You need to make sure states, when they distribute federal dollars, they’re not discriminating against religious institutions,” Grogen said. “Some people need to get over the fact that they’re offended by people of faith.”But Jack Moline, the president of Interfaith Alliance, says religious groups shouldn’t impose their beliefs on people who come to them for non-religious services, like adoptions or healthcare.“What’s being advocated by this administration is relaxing of the requirements for faith-based organizations,” Moline said. “Which is a violation of the establishment clause, the very first freedom articulated in the First Amendment.”As an executive action, the new guidelines are not subject to Congressional approval.
Watchdog: White House violated law in freezing Ukraine aid
WASHINGTON — The White House violated federal law in withholding security assistance to Ukraine, an action at the center of President Donald Trump's impeachment, a federal watchdog agency said Thursday.The Government Accountability Office said in a report that the Office of Management and Budget broke the law in holding up the aid, which Congress passed less than a year ago, saying “the President is not vested with the power to ignore or amend any such duly enacted law."The aid in question was held up last summer on orders from President Trump but was released in September after Congress pushed for its release and a whistleblower's complaint about President Trump's July call with the Ukrainian leader became public.The independent agency, which reports to Congress, said OMB violated the Impoundment Control Act by delaying the security assistance for “policy reasons,” rather than technical budgetary needs.“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” wrote the agency's general counsel, Thomas Armstrong, in the report.Capitol Hill Democrats seized on the report as evidence of a lawless White House.
Taliban say they handed cease-fire offer to US peace envoy
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban have given the U.S. envoy their offer for a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan that would last between seven and 10 days, Taliban officials familiar with the negotiations said Thursday.The offer is seen as an opportunity to open a window to an eventual peace deal that would allow the United States to bring home its estimated 13,000 troops and end the 18-year war in Afghanistan, America's longest conflict.The cease-fire offer was handed to Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington's envoy for talks with the insurgents, late Wednesday in Qatar, a Gulf Arab country where the Taliban maintain a political office.Khalilzad has been pressing for a cease-fire but it wasn't immediately clear whether the Taliban proposal would be enough to allow for the on-again off-again talks between the Taliban and the U.S. to restart, with the aim of eventually signing a peace deal.The U.S. State Department declined to comment.Previously, Khalilzad said a U.S.-Taliban deal would also include the start of negotiations among Afghans on both sides of the conflict to hammer out a so-called road map to a post-war Afghanistan.
Senate passes US-Mexico-Canada trade deal, delivering policy victory to President Trump
WASHINGTON -- The Senate overwhelmingly approved a new North American trade agreement Thursday that rewrites the rules of trade with Canada and Mexico and gives President Donald Trump a major policy win before senators turn their full attention to his impeachment trial.The vote was 89-10.The measure goes to President Trump for his signature.
President Trump's impeachment trial underway with reading of charges
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate opened the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on Thursday, with House Democrats reading the formal charges in the chamber ahead of the swearing in of all 100 senators as jurors for only the third trial to remove a president in U.S. history.“Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye!" said the Senate's sergeant at arms, calling the proceedings to order.Seven lawmakers prosecuting the charges, led by Rep.
President Trump to divert billions from Pentagon to build border wall
WASHINGTON — The White House confirmed President Trump is looking to divert additional money to the construction of the border wall.President Trump has said, “Mexico is paying for the wall.
MU Law poll: 61% of Wisconsin voters think US, Iran will avoid major military conflict
MILWAUKEE -- President Donald Trump's support in Wisconsin showed little signs of change in the Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday, Jan. 15 with more respondents against removing him from office than those who want to see him ousted after the House voted to impeach.Voters are nearly evenly divided over whether President Trump is doing a good job or not, the first poll of the 2020 election year showed.