What if it were President Barack Obama who was the subject of the Senate impeachment trial? How would we feel then? Cass Sunstein, a professor at Harvard Law School, suggests a question along those lines in his book “Impeachment: A Citizen’s Guide.” It’s one of several thought experiments that I suggest in order to step […]
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WASHINGTON — Republican senators allied with President Trump are increasingly arguing that the Senate should not call witnesses or subpoena documents for his impeachment trial because Mr. Trump has threatened to invoke executive privilege, and a legal fight would take too long to resolve. But it is far from clear that Mr. Trump has the […]
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WASHINGTON — The House impeachment managers concluded their arguments against President Trump on Friday by portraying his pressure campaign on Ukraine as part of a dangerous pattern of Russian appeasement that would continue to imperil the country’s security if he remained in office. Ending their three-day presentation in the Senate, the president’s Democratic prosecutors summoned […]
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WASHINGTON — Senator James M. Inhofe, a conservative Republican from Oklahoma, has made clear that he intends to vote to acquit President Trump. But after Representative Adam B. Schiff’s fiery speech Thursday night calling for the president’s removal, Mr. Inhofe felt compelled to give a fellow lawmaker some grudging respect. “I have to say this,” […]
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WASHINGTON — A former associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, said on Friday that he had turned over to congressional Democrats a recording from 2018 of the president ordering the dismissal of Marie L. Yovanovitch, the United States ambassador to Ukraine at the time. The associate, Lev Parnas, who worked with Mr. […]
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Here’s what you need to know: ImageSenator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, speaking to reporters during a break in the trial on Friday.Credit…Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times Prosecutors from the House are focusing on the obstruction of Congress charge. House impeachment managers were using most of their final seven hours and 53 minutes of […]
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Here’s what you need to know: Prosecutors from the House are focusing on the obstruction of Congress charge. House impeachment managers were using most of their final seven hours and 53 minutes of oral arguments to make their case that President Trump obstructed Congress. Discussion of Mr. Trump’s alleged cover-up had focused primarily on Mr. […]
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Entering their final day of formal arguments, House impeachment managers are poised to bring to a close the case against President Trump that they have been methodically assembling since Wednesday. There have been conspicuous signs that fatigue is growing among the senators, who have already heard nearly 16 hours of presentations. Some have looked restless, […]
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WASHINGTON — House Democrats sought on Thursday to pre-emptively dismantle President Trump’s core defenses in his impeachment trial, invoking the words of the nation’s founders, Mr. Trump’s allies and the president himself to argue that his pressure campaign on Ukraine was an abuse of power that warranted his removal. On the second day of opening […]
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WASHINGTON — As President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial stretched into its third day on Thursday, the Democratic prosecutors arguing the case for his removal played a video clip from 1999 of Senator Lindsey Graham, now one of Mr. Trump’s staunchest defenders, contradicting a central tenet of the president’s legal defense. Senators craned their necks from […]
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This article is part of the Debatable newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Monday, President Trump’s chief lawyers in his impeachment trial, Jay Sekulow and Pat Cipollone, submitted a 110-page brief to the Senate laying out the case for his acquittal. The articles of impeachment, they say, are […]
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In a protracted presentation on Wednesday, House impeachment managers pressed their case that President Trump should be removed from office, accusing him of enlisting the help of a foreign government to damage political rivals. Democrats continued to insist that testimony from witnesses like John R. Bolton, the former White House national security adviser, was critical […]
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WASHINGTON — The House Democratic impeachment managers began formal arguments in the Senate trial on Wednesday, presenting a meticulous and scathing case for convicting President Trump and removing him from office on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the lead House prosecutor, took the lectern in […]
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Let’s not dismiss the Senate impeachment trial as a “kangaroo court.” That’s an insult to kangaroos, who lately have been suffering enough. President Trump and Senate Republican leaders seem to be planning a rushed, sham trial with no witnesses and limited evidence. This reminds me of a trial I once monitored of a Chinese journalist […]
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WASHINGTON — Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican leader, hails from an era — four years ago — when gaffes could cost a lawmaker a job. In 2015 he lost his shot at the speaker’s gavel after he said the quiet part out loud: The true purpose of Republicans’ two-year inquiry into a […]
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WASHINGTON — With the adoption early Wednesday morning of the ground rules for President Trump’s impeachment trial, the Senate prepared to plunge forward over the next week with oral arguments, questions from senators and consequential votes on whether to admit new evidence. The trial could be over in two weeks, or it could stretch on […]
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Current law prohibits reading or typing messages on a personal communications device while driving. However, holding such a device is legal, except while driving in a work zone. House Bill 874, currently being considered in the Virginia General Assembly, would prohibit holding a handheld personal communications device while driving a motor vehicle. HB874 and SB160 […]
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WASHINGTON — A divided Senate began the impeachment trial of President Trump on Tuesday in utter acrimony, as Republicans blocked Democrats’ efforts to subpoena documents related to the pressure campaign on Ukraine and moderate Republicans forced last-minute changes to rules that had been tailored to the president’s wishes. In a series of party-line votes punctuated […]
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WASHINGTON — A divided Senate began the impeachment trial of President Trump on Tuesday in utter acrimony, as Republicans refused to commit to hearing from witnesses Democrats demanded and moderate Republicans forced last-minute changes to rules that had been tailored to the president’s wishes. The debate, convened just after 1 p.m. in a Senate chamber […]
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President Donald Trump is facing an impeachment trial in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate this week after House Democrats say the president abused his power and obstructed Congress. This will be the third impeachment trial in American history. House leaders carried the articles of impeachment over to the Senate last week. The articles allege Trump abused […]
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WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, unveiled ground rules on Monday for President Trump’s impeachment trial that would attempt to speed the proceeding along and refuse to admit the evidence against the president unearthed by the House without a separate vote. Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, showed his hand hours after Mr. Trump’s […]
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WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, unveiled ground rules on Monday for President Trump’s impeachment trial that would attempt to speed the proceeding along and refuse to admit the evidence against the president unearthed by the House without a separate vote. Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, showed his hand hours after Mr. Trump’s […]
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WASHINGTON — President Trump’s legal team called on the Senate on Monday to “swiftly reject” the impeachment charges and acquit him, maintaining that he committed no impeachable offense and has been the victim of an illegitimate partisan effort to take him down. In a 110-page brief submitted to the Senate the day before his trial […]
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