同情特朗普
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国际危机通常会导致对国家领导人的支持激增，至少一开始是如此。这种事显然正在发生。就在几周前，这个国家的领导人还面临着公众的强烈不满，以至于他对权力的掌控似乎处于危险之中。如今，卡西姆·苏莱曼尼(Qassim Suleimani)的遇刺改变了局势，激起了一股爱国主义浪潮，极大地鼓舞了掌权者。
不幸的是，这种危难之际团结爱国的场面并不是发生在美国，而是发生在伊朗。在美国则有许多人对唐纳德·特朗普的动机深感怀疑，他们是有充分理由的。
换句话说，特朗普最近霸凌另一个国家的企图适得其反——就像他之前的所有事情一样。
从上任第一天起，特朗普的所作所为就是基于这样一个显然的信念：他可以轻易恐吓外国政府——他们会很快屈服，任凭他蒙羞。也就是说，他想象自己面对的是一个林赛·格雷厄姆(Lindsey Grahams)的世界，只要稍微遇到点挑战就愿意放弃一切尊严。
但这种策略一直失败；他所威胁的政权得以加强，而不是遭到削弱，最终做出丢人现眼的让步的是特朗普自己。
还记得特朗普承诺，如果朝鲜不停止其核武器计划，就要施以“炮火与怒火”吗？2018年，他与朝鲜领导人金正恩(Kim Jong-un)举行峰会后宣布自己获胜。但金正恩并没有做出真正的让步，朝鲜最近宣布可能会重新进行核武器和远程导弹试验。
或者想想同中国的贸易战，它的本意是让中国人屈服。目前一项协议已经达成，尽管细节尚不清楚，但是很明显，它远远达不到美国的目标，而且中国官员对自己成功击败特朗普感到欢欣鼓舞。
为什么特朗普的这种可谓以恐吓取胜的国际战略总是失败？为什么他还要继续坚持这个战略呢？
我怀疑，其中一个答案是，和很多美国人一样，特朗普很难理解，其他国家也是真实存在的——我们国家的公民宁愿付出高昂的代价，无论是金钱还是生命，也不愿看到国家做出在他们心目中非常耻辱的让步，但我们不是唯一一个这样的国家。
扪心自问，如果一个外国势力暗杀了迪克·切尼(Dick Cheney)，声称他手上沾有成千上万伊拉克人的鲜血，美国人会作何反应？不要说苏莱曼尼更糟。那不是重点。关键是我们不能接受外国政府有权杀害我们的官员。为什么会觉得其他国家和我们不一样呢？
当然，我们的外交人员中，有许多人对其他国家及其动机有着深刻的了解，他们明白，恐吓的限度在什么地方。但是任何有这种见识的人都被排除在特朗普的核心圈子之外。
的确，多年来，美国的确拥有特殊的领导地位，有时还参与重塑其他国家的政治体系。但这就是特朗普的第二个错误：没有任何迹象表明，他理解美国为什么曾经如此特别。
当然，部分原因是美国纯粹的经济和军事实力：美国曾经比其他国家强大得多。然而，这已不再是事实。例如，以一些关键指标衡量，中国的经济规模明显大于美国。
然而，更重要的是，美国并非只是一个到处发号施令的大国。我们一直在捍卫的是某种更大的东西。
这并不意味着我们一直是一股正义的力量；美国在其拥有全球霸权期间做了许多可怕的事情。但我们明确支持全球法治，支持一个对包括我们自身在内的所有人施以共同规则的体系。在北约等联盟和世界贸易组织等机构中，美国可能一直是发挥主导作用的合作伙伴，但我们总是试图表现得与其他国家平起平坐。
哦对了，由于我们致力于执行规则，我们也会相对值得信赖；与美国结盟是有意义的，因为我们不是那种为了短期政治便利而背叛盟友的国家。
然而，特朗普却抛弃了所有曾经让美国伟大的东西。在他的领导下，我们变成了一个自私自利的大恶霸——一个有着宏大妄想的恶霸，但其实远没有他想象的那么强悍。我们突然抛弃了库尔德人这样的盟友；我们尊敬战犯；我们无缘无故对加拿大这样的友好国家征收惩罚性关税。当然还有，在撒了15000个谎之后，我们的领导人和他的下属所说的一切都是不可信的。
特朗普的官员们似乎对苏莱曼尼被杀带来的一边倒的负面后果感到吃惊：伊朗政权声威大震，伊拉克转向敌对，没有人站出来支持我们。但是，背叛自己所有的朋友，挥霍自己所有的信誉，就是会导致这样的后果。
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Jan. 13, 2020, 4:49 AM EST / Updated Jan. 13, 2020, 5:21 PM EST
By Carol E. Lee and Courtney Kube
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump authorized the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani seven months ago if Iran's increased aggression resulted in the death of an American, according to five current and former senior administration officials.
The presidential directive in June came with the condition that Trump would have final signoff on any specific operation to kill Soleimani, officials said.
That decision explains why assassinating Soleimani was on the menu of options that the military presented to Trump two weeks ago for responding to an attack by Iranian proxies in Iraq, in which a U.S. contractor was killed and four U.S. service members were wounded, the officials said.
The timing, however, could undermine the Trump administration's stated justification for ordering the U.S. drone strike that killed Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 3. Officials have said Soleimani, the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, was planning imminent attacks on Americans and had to be stopped.
"There have been a number of options presented to the president over the course of time," a senior administration official said, adding that it was "some time ago" that the president's aides put assassinating Soleimani on the list of potential responses to Iranian aggression.
After Iran shot down a U.S. drone in June, John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser at the time, urged Trump to retaliate by signing off on an operation to kill Soleimani, officials said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also wanted Trump to authorize the assassination, officials said.
But Trump rejected the idea, saying he'd take that step only if Iran crossed his red line: killing an American. The president's message was "that's only on the table if they hit Americans," according to a person briefed on the discussion.
Neither the White House nor the National Security Council responded to requests for comment. Bolton and the State Department also did not respond to requests for comment.
U.S. intelligence officials have closely tracked Soleimani's movements for years. When Trump came into office, Pompeo, who was Trump's first CIA director, urged the president to consider taking a more aggressive approach to Soleimani after showing him new intelligence on what a second senior administration official described as "very serious threats that didn't come to fruition."
The idea of killing Soleimani came up in discussions in 2017 that Trump's national security adviser at the time, retired Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, was having with other administration officials about the president's broader national security strategy, officials said. But it was just one of a host of possible elements of Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran and "was not something that was thought of as a first move," said a former senior administration official involved in the discussions.
The idea did become more serious after McMaster was replaced in April 2018 by Bolton, a longtime Iran hawk and advocate for regime change in Tehran. Bolton left the White House in September — he said he resigned, while Trump said he fired him — following policy disagreements on Iran and other issues.
John Bolton, then the national security adviser, listens as President Donald Trump meets with Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the White House on July 18, 2019.Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post/Getty Images file
The administration of President George W. Bush designated the Quds Force a foreign terrorist organization in 2007. Four years later, the Obama administration announced new sanctions on Soleimani and three other senior Quds Force officials in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States.
But in April, Bolton helped prod Trump to designate the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a foreign terrorist organization. White House officials at the time refused to say whether that meant the United States would target Revolutionary Guard leaders as it does the leadership of other terrorist groups, such as the Islamic State militant group and al Qaeda.
Iran retaliated by designating the U.S. military a terrorist organization.
The actions underscored the rising tension between the United States and Iran in the three years since Trump took office.
Since Trump withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 — and his administration tightened its squeeze on Iran's economy with punishing economic sanctions — Iran has attacked U.S. military assets in Iraq with increasing aggressiveness and frequency.
Iran has launched more than a dozen separate rocket attacks on bases housing Americans since October. The U.S. military blamed Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi militia that is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces but is backed by Iran. U.S. military and intelligence officials say the group takes direction from Iran, specifically the Quds Force.
A U.S. military official in Iraq said the rockets Iran has launched at U.S. forces have become more sophisticated over time.
Most attacks in October and November used 107mm rockets, which have a shorter range and less explosive power. But an attack on Ain al Asad air base in Anbar Province on Dec. 3 included 122mm rockets, with more firepower and the ability to be fired from a greater distance. They are generally launched from more sophisticated improvised rail systems, leading the U.S. military to believe the attackers were receiving new equipment and training from Iran.
The largest attack was on Dec. 27, when Kataib Hezbollah launched more than 30 rockets at an Iraqi base in Kirkuk, killing a U.S. contractor and wounding four U.S. service members.
The base, known as K-1 Air Base, belongs to the Iraqi military but frequently hosts forces that are part of the U.S.-led coalition assigned to Operation Inherent Resolve, the fight against ISIS. On Dec. 27, the coalition was preparing for a counter-ISIS operation, so more Americans were on the base than usual.
After the attack, the United States launched airstrikes against five Kataib Hezbollah locations, three in Iraq and two in Syria, targeting ammunition and weapon supplies, as well as command and control sites.
Trump signed off on the operation to kill Soleimani after Iranian-backed militia members responded to the U.S. strikes by storming the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper presented a series of response options to the president two weeks ago, including killing Soleimani. Esper presented the pros and cons of such an operation but made it clear that he was in favor of taking out Soleimani, officials said.
At a meeting later, military leaders laid out the estimated number of casualties associated with each option, showing the president that killing Soleimani at Imam Khomeini International Airport late at night would involve fewer possible casualties than the other options.
The strike marked a break from past administrations, which have never publicly claimed responsibility for killing senior figures from the Iranian regime or its proxies.
During the height of the U.S. war in Iraq in 2006, for example, when Iranian-armed and -trained militias were planting lethal roadside bombs targeting U.S. troops, Bush administration officials debated how to confront Soleimani and his operatives in Iraq, according to four former U.S. officials. U.S. troops captured Revolutionary Guard operatives but never tried to kill Soleimani or launch attacks inside Iranian territory, former officials said.
At one point, the U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. George Casey, raised the possibility of designating Soleimani and his Quds Force officers as enemy combatants in Iraq, according to Eric Edelman, a former diplomat who held senior posts at the Defense Department and the White House. But in the end, the idea was ruled out as U.S. commanders and officials did not want to open up a new front in Iraq when U.S. forces were preoccupied with the fight against al Qaeda in Iraq, Edelman said.
"There were a lot of us who thought he should be taken out. But at the end of the day, they decided not to do that," Edelman said. There was concern about "the danger of escalation and the danger of having a conflict with Iran while we already had our hands full in Iraq," he said.
Iran responded to the assassination of Soleimani by striking bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq, and after no Americans were killed, Trump appeared to back off further military conflict. Instead, he announced new sanctions against Iran on Friday.
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弹劾已正式转给参议院，明天宣誓开庭
这日子选的!
The US House of Representatives has passed a resolution to submit articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate for a trial.
The resolution passed largely along party lines by 228 votes to 193.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signed copies of the articles alongside the team of Democratic lawmakers who will prosecute the case against Mr Trump.
The House, controlled by opposition Democrats, impeached the president last month.
The Senate, controlled by Mr Trump's Republican Party, will decide whether to convict and remove him from office.
At a press conference before the signing of the articles, Mrs Pelosi said: "Today we will make history. When the managers walk down the hall, we will cross a threshold in history - delivering articles of impeachment against the president of the United States for abuse of power and obstruction of the House."
The articles were then transferred to the Senate, where Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said they would be exhibited on Thursday at noon, followed by a reading on the floor of the upper chamber. He said the trial would begin on Tuesday.
The president is accused of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He denies trying to pressure Ukraine's leader during a phone call on 25 July last year to open an investigation into his would-be Democratic White House challenger Joe Biden.
Mr Trump has been touting unsubstantiated corruption claims about Mr Biden and his son, Hunter, who accepted a lucrative board position with a Ukrainian energy firm while his father handled American-Ukraine relations as US vice-president. Mr Biden is one of a dozen candidates campaigning for the Democratic Party's White House nomination.
The Senate trial will be only the third of a US president in history.
Will he be removed from office?
While Democrats control the House, Mr Trump's fellow Republicans hold sway in the Senate 53-47 and are all but certain to acquit him. It remains to be seen how the case could influence the president's campaign for re-election this November.
Democrats hope the impeachment will carry symbolic weight. Mrs Pelosi, who launched the impeachment inquiry in September, said on the House floor before the vote: "We are here today to cross a very important threshold in American history."
All Republicans voted against the resolution to transmit the articles of impeachment. Only one Democrat, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, did not vote in favour. Democrats were joined by Justin Amash of Michigan, a former Republican who left the party to become an independent.
The Republican leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy of California, said Democrats were trying to remove the president with the "weakest case". He called it a "sad saga".
How will the trial work?
Mrs Pelosi appeared earlier at a news conference with the seven "managers" who will prosecute the Democratic case against the Republican president. They will be led by Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House intelligence committee.
The six others are Jerrold Nadler, head of the House judiciary committee; Hakeem Jeffries of New York; Zoe Lofgren of California; Jason Crow of Colorado; Val Demings of Florida; and Sylvia Garcia of Texas.
White House lawyers Pat Cipollone and Jay Sekulow have been tipped to lead the president's defence team. The Republican leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, said opening statements in the trial were expected next Tuesday.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will be sworn in to preside, and he will administer an oath to all 100 senators to deliver "impartial justice" as jurors. Mr McConnell angered senior Democrats when he appeared to abandon that responsibility, saying Senate Republicans would act in lockstep with the Trump administration.
During an event at the White House, Mr Trump rejected the impeachment charges as a "hoax".
The Senate trial could still be under way in early February when Iowa and New Hampshire hold the first contests to pick the eventual Democratic presidential candidate.
Mrs Pelosi defended her decision to hold off submitting the impeachment articles to Congress for more than three weeks as she quarrelled with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell about the trial rules, and even fellow Democrats urged her to stop stalling.
"Time has been our friend in all of this, because it has yielded incriminating evidence, more truth into the public domain," she told reporters.
As Mrs Pelosi spoke, Mr Trump tweeted to call the process a "Con Job by the Do Nothing Democrats".
Will there be witnesses?
One of the biggest sticking points between House Democrats and Senate Republicans is over what testimony will be allowed at the trial. The Senate's trial plan will guarantee votes on whether to call witnesses and hear new evidence, Republican senators Lindsey Graham and Mike Rounds said on Tuesday.
It takes just 51 votes to approve rules or call witnesses, meaning four Republican senators would have to side with Democrats to insist on testimony. The White House is understood to have identified several possible defectors in the Republican ranks, including Ms Collins and Mr Romney.
The others are Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who is retiring this year. Ms Collins said: "My position is that there should be a vote on whether or not witnesses should be called."
Mr Romney said he wants to hear from John Bolton, the former National Security Adviser, who has said he would only testify if served a legal summons.
"I expect that barring some kind of surprise. I'll be voting in favour of hearing from witnesses after those opening arguments," Mr Romney said.
Republicans say that if witnesses are allowed, they may try to subpoena Mr Biden and his son, and the unidentified government whistleblower whose complaint about Mr Trump sparked the whole impeachment inquiry.
A White House senior official official told reporters on Wednesday that the president would have the right to call witnesses should the Democrats do so, adding that it would be "extraordinarily unlikely" for the trial to run beyond two weeks.
Who are the House managers?
Adam Schiff, 59, (California) a Harvard-educated lawyer who presided over much of the House impeachment inquiry
Jerry Nadler, 72, (New York), the judiciary committee chairman who has been an adversary of Mr Trump since the 1980s
Zoe Lofgren, 72, (California) a Capitol Hill staffer during Nixon's impeachment inquiry, she voted against President Clinton's impeachment
Hakeem Jeffries, 49, (New York), a corporate lawyer by training and chairman of the Democratic caucus
Val Demings, 62, (Florida) who was the first female police chief in Orlando. She sits on the judiciary and intelligence committees
Jason Crow, 40, (Colorado) a former Army Ranger and Afghan and Iraq wars veteran who wrested a seat from a Republican in 2018
Sylvia Garcia, 69, (Texas) a first-term congresswoman who previously served as a judge for the Houston municipal court system
Trump impeachment: House sends historic case to Senate
Donald Trump will become only the third US president to face trial in the US upper chamber.
www.bbc.com
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The managers chosen to prosecute the impeachment case against U.S. President Donald Trump will make their case to all 100 senators. But to get the trial they want, they need just four Republicans.
The House Democrats presenting the case at trial face the unique challenge of persuading a handful of senators to cross the aisle and join Democrats in demanding that the trial include documents and witnesses most Republicans would like to avoid.
In a polarized era, even that modest goal could prove difficult. But it is Democrats’ only hope to avoid the abrupt acquittal Trump is seeking. How that phase plays out could shape the depth of the stain of impeachment on Trump’s legacy, but also the fortunes of many of the senators who will be on the ballot in November along with the president.
“We’re going to make the case,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, the lead prosecutor for Democrats, told The Associated Press in an interview. “Not only to the Senate, but we will make the case to the American people and expect that senators will be accountable for their decisions.”
The House impeached Trump Dec. 18 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after an investigation into the president’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democrats. Those articles will be formally presented to the Senate on Thursday, triggering a trial.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hand-selected the seven House members who will make the case for Trump’s conviction and removal from office. She said their focus would be on “making the strongest possible case to protect and defend our Constitution, to seek the truth for the American people.”
While the Democratic prosecutors can look to former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment for a model, their challenge is different. In Clinton’s trial, the 13 GOP managers already had an exhaustive trail of evidence, delivered by independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
For Trump, the House had to compile its own case, using a whistle-blower complaint as a guide. But lawmakers were unable to obtain testimony and documents from key administration officials who refused to co-operate, under orders from the White House.
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton, for example, has said he will testify before the Senate but refused to talk to the House. Bolton was present for many of the key episodes in which Trump pressured Ukraine as he ordered military aid to the country withheld.
If the Democrats can obtain new information during the trial from Bolton and other witnesses, it could extend the proceedings and prevent a rapid acquittal. But with only 47 Democrats in the Senate, they’ll need support from at least four Republicans to obtain the necessary 51 votes — and there’s no guarantee they’ll get there.
The task of convincing them falls primarily to Schiff and House Judiciary Committee Jerrold Nadler, whose committee wrote and approved the two articles of impeachment.
California Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who is working on her third presidential impeachment, is another manager who will make the case. She’ll be joined by two freshmen, Colorado Rep. Jason Crow and Texas Rep. Sylvia Garcia, who were a litigator and a judge, respectively, before coming to Congress.
Rounding out the group is New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the chairman of the House Democratic Conference, and Florida Rep. Val Demings, a former chief of the Orlando Police Department.
“The emphasis is on litigators,” Pelosi said at a morning press conference. “The emphasis is on comfort level in the courtroom.”
Schiff said the managers intend to lay out facts of their case in detail, using video clips from House testimony to inform not only the senators in the room, but also the millions of Americans watching the trial who could pressure Republicans to act.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signalled skepticism about hearing from witnesses, though he hasn’t ruled it out. And many in his caucus have said they want to stay within the confines of the case the House is sending over. They say that if the House wanted more information, they should have gone to court for it.
However, “fifty-one senators will decide who to call,” McConnell acknowledged Tuesday.
There are already signs that the House push — and Pelosi’s four-week delay in sending the articles — is having the desired effect.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican who is seeking re-election this year, has negotiated with McConnell to ensure there will be a vote after opening arguments on whether to call witnesses.
Democrats are trying to keep up the pressure. On Tuesday, three House committees released documents provided by an associate of Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. The documents from Lev Parnas detail his work as an intermediary in Ukraine as Trump pushed the investigations of Joe Biden and the Democrats.
Schiff said he expects more evidence to come out as the trial progresses.
“One thing that senators are going to have to think about is, if they prohibit us from getting the documents, they’re going to come out over time anyway,” Schiff said. “And it will be very difficult for them to explain to the country why they voted not to see the evidence at a time when it would have helped them in their judgment.”
“The challenge,” Schiff said, “is to get a fair trial.”
Trump impeachment: Democrats need only 4 Republicans to get Senate trial - National | Globalnews.ca
The House Democrats presenting the case at trial face the unique challenge of persuading a handful of senators to cross the aisle and join Democrats in demanding that the trial include documents and witnesses most Republicans would like to avoid.
globalnews.ca
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Washington (CNN) Indicted Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, a central figure in the White House's alleged Ukraine pressure campaign, said President Donald Trump "knew exactly what was going on" despite his repeated denials of wrongdoing.
"He was aware of all my movements. I wouldn't do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani, or the President," Parnas told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Wednesday night. "I have no intent, I have no reason, to speak to any of these officials."
Parnas asserted he was the one "on the ground" doing Trump and Giuliani's work, "and that's the secret that they're trying to keep."
"Why would President Zelensky's inner circle, or Minister Avakov, or all these people, or President Poroshenko, meet with me? Who am I? They were told to meet with me," he said.
The comments, which represent Parnas' most forceful implication of Trump yet, come against the backdrop of an approaching Senate impeachment trial after the House on Wednesday formally presented two articles of impeachment to the chamber.
Democrats allege Trump abused his office by directing a pressure campaign for Ukraine to announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden in exchange for $400 million in US security aid and a White House meeting. Trump, Democrats say, then stonewalled congressional investigators to cover up the misconduct.
The President has denied all wrongdoing and has repeatedly sought to distance himself from Parnas and his business partner Igor Fruman after they were charged with funneling foreign money into US elections and using a straw donor to obscure the true source of political donations. They have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
"I don't know them," Trump told reporters after they were arrested. "I don't know about them. I don't know what they do but I don't know, maybe they were clients of Rudy. You'd have to ask Rudy, I just don't know."
Yet on at least seven occasions, Trump has posed for photos with either Fruman or Parnas, and CNN previously reported that Fruman and Parnas had a private meeting with the President and Giuliani during a White House party in December 2018, according to two acquaintances in whom Parnas confided right after the meeting.
During the meeting, Parnas said that "the big guy," as he sometimes referred to Trump in conversation, talked about tasking him and Fruman with what Parnas described as "a secret mission" to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden, the two confidants said.
In the days immediately following the meeting, Parnas insinuated to the two people he confided in that he clearly believed he'd been given a special assignment by the President; like some sort of "James Bond mission," according to one of the people.
Lev Parnas says Trump 'knew exactly what was going on' with Ukraine pressure campaign
Indicted Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, a central figure in the White House's alleged Ukraine pressure campaign, said President Donald Trump "knew exactly what was going on" despite his repeated denials of wrongdoing.
www.cnn.com
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(CNN) The third Senate impeachment trial of a US president in history convened on Thursday with the reading of the impeachment articles against President Donald Trump and the swearing in of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and the senators who will decide whether Trump should be removed from office.
The Senate conducted its ceremonial functions of the impeachment trial on Thursday before the actual arguments will get underway next Tuesday. House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and the lead impeachment manager, read the articles aloud in the chamber while senators looked on from their desks.
Roberts was sworn in shortly several hours later. After Roberts swore in the senators, each present member of the chamber came forward and signed the oath book on the floor of the Senate.
The outcome of the trial is all but determined, as the two-thirds vote required to remove the President would need 20 Republican senators to break ranks. But that doesn't mean the trial itself won't have twists and turns — and potentially some surprises — as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell navigates the demands of his Senate conference, pressures from Democrats and the whims of Trump and his Twitter account.
Already this week, indicted Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas has upended the impeachment conversation by providing the House Intelligence Committee with a trove of evidence about his work with Giuliani's efforts to oust former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch last spring and then pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
And the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog, said Thursday that the Trump administration violated the law when it withheld Ukraine security aid that Congress has appropriated.
That evidence is likely to be incorporated into the House Democratic case against the President, which they will begin presenting next Tuesday when the substance of the trial gets underway. Democrats charge that Trump withheld the security aid and a White House meeting from Ukraine while pushing for an investigation into the Bidens.
On Thursday, the Senate dispensed with the ceremonial functions of the impeachment trial.
The House impeachment managers began the proceedings by reading aloud the two articles of impeachment on the floor of the Senate. It was the second time they took the articles from the House to the Senate — the managers took the same walk on Wednesday to notify the Senate of the articles, in an odd bit of ceremonial flair that comes with an impeachment trial of the President.
The Senate officially issued a summons to the President after senators were sworn in to notify him of the trial, and McConnell set up a series of deadlines for trial briefs to be filed by both the House impeachment managers and the President's legal team.
The trial is set to resume on Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET, McConnell said, at which point the Senate is likely to take up a resolution setting the rules of the trial. Then arguments will get underway.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the Parnas allegations and the GAO report "strengthen our push" for witnesses and documents in the trial. He added that "no witnesses would be a dramatic break with precedent."
During his news conference, Schumer said he expects votes on Tuesday to try to force Republicans to take a position on witnesses. But he said he wouldn't know for sure until he sees McConnell's organizing resolution.
Asked if he would be in communication with House impeachment managers and Pelosi as they craft their strategy, Schumer acknowledged that he would confer with them but argued it was different from McConnell taking cues from Trump.
"We are taking our cues from nobody," Schumer said.
One senator, Oklahoma Republican Jim Inhofe, was not present Thursday and not sworn in. Inhofe spokeswoman Leacy Burke said he was in Oklahoma with a family member facing a medical issue, and planned to return to Washington to be sworn in for the trial on Tuesday.
The trial is only beginning this week after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi withheld the formal sending of the articles for four weeks while Democrats pushed for Republicans to agree to calling witnesses and obtaining new documents for the trial.
Pelosi said at her weekly press conference Thursday that Senate Republicans are "afraid of the truth," when asked what her response is to Senate Republicans who say they shouldn't have to consider new evidence like the Parnas material because it wasn't included in the House investigation.
"They don't want to see documents, they don't want to hear from eyewitnesses," Pelosi said. "They want to ignore anything new that comes up."
McConnell has rejected the Democratic demands, saying the question of witnesses should be taken up after the House and the President's legal team make their opening arguments. Republicans are expected to pass the rules to put off the question of witnesses without Democratic votes.
McConnell on Thursday criticized Pelosi on the Senate floor for distributing souvenir pens while signing the impeachment articles on Wednesday.
"Nothing says seriousness and sobriety like handing out souvenirs, as though this were a happy bill-signing instead of the gravest process in our Constitution," he said.
Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump officially begins
The third Senate impeachment trial of a US president in history convened on Thursday with the reading of the impeachment articles against President Donald Trump and the swearing in of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and the senators who will decide whether Trump should be removed from...
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Trump impeachment defense team will include Clinton prosecutor Ken Starr and Jeffrey Epstein lawyer Alan Dershowitz
Ken Starr, Alan Dershowitz and ex-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will help defend Trump at the Senate impeachment trial. Former Whitewater prosecutor Robert Ray is expected to join the team.
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Republicans on the spot as Senate braces for impeachment drama
There's nowhere left for Republicans senators to hide.
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Trump impeachment defense team will include Clinton prosecutor Ken Starr and Jeffrey Epstein lawyer Alan Dershowitz
Ken Starr, Alan Dershowitz and ex-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will help defend Trump at the Senate impeachment trial. Former Whitewater prosecutor Robert Ray is expected to join the team.www.cnbc.com
'Are You F*cking Kidding Me:?' Monica Lewinsky Reacts to Ken Starr Joining Trump's Impeachment Defense Team | Common Dreams
"That's the message Trump wants to send for his impeachment?" asked another critic after president announced legal team for Senate trial.
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