McConnell rams through Trump trial rules
Senate Republicans jammed through the ground rules for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial early on Wednesday morning, voting on party lines to reject Democratic efforts to subpoena witnesses and documents in the trial’s organizing resolution.
The resolution from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) punted the decision on whether witnesses will testify until next week. It potentially puts Trump on track to be acquitted before his Feb. 4 State of the Union address. But it didn't come easy. Democrats made the process as uncomfortable as possible by forcing hours of debate and 11 votes on subpoenaing witnesses and documents.
McConnell won on each one, in part due to changes he made shortly before the Senate came into session on Tuesday afternoon. The GOP leader backed down from an aggressive timetable and new restrictions on evidence in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, changing course after protests from senators like Republican Susan Collins of Maine.
But Eric Ueland, the White House’s legislative affairs director, endorsed the resolution as ensuring "the president's rights are defended." And Republicans were happy to have prevailed over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). The vote passed 53-47.
"Sen. Schumer knew it was going to be this way. We need to get into the arguments and then on the back-end they'll have the chance to offer these motions again — after we've heard the arguments," said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) as the clock neared midnight. "I'm satisfied."
Schumer spent the day forcing Republicans to vote on ordering subpoenas for administration witnesses and documents related to the freezing of Ukraine aid and requests that the country announce a probe of former Vice President Joe Biden. Though Schumer lost those efforts, it was Democrats’ best chance to force Republicans to take a position given the uncertainty of the road ahead.
"We need to put Republicans on record. We may not have another chance to offer amendments to get witnesses and documents before the Senate. This may be our only chance — tonight — in order to make this a fair trial,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). McConnell sought to speed up the votes, but Schumer declined his entreaties.
The late night proved explosive: Shortly before 1 a.m. and the GOP's rejection of subpoenaing former national security adviser John Bolton, Chief Justice John Roberts admonished the House impeachment managers and the president's legal team for trading insults on the Senate floor. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) accused Republicans of taking to "treacherous" votes against new evidence; White House counsel Pat Cipollone asked for Nadler to apologize and said he should be "embarrassed."
If Democrats' votes prove salient, it may not be until November when Democrats try to win back the Senate in part on Republicans' impeachment votes. And over the next two weeks, it will be McConnell’s resolution vote that matters most, which the majority leader carefully altered in the lead up to the vote.
Instead of cramming as many as 48 hours of opening arguments from Democratic House impeachment managers and the White House counsel into just four days this week, McConnell gives each side 24 hours to speak over three days. That could ultimately extend the trial by two days. And a controversial provision in the plan that would not have automatically included the House’s evidence was also scuttled from a previous draft.
Collins, a key swing vote, viewed the changes to the rules package as "a significant improvement" over Monday's draft and pushed for the language on evidence to mimic the precedent set by Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial, said spokeswoman Annie Clark. Collins and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) both raised concerns about the aggressive schedule for opening arguments, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The changes to the handling of the House's evidence could be contentious, as the new resolution will allow White House lawyers to object to evidence if they deem it hearsay.
Still, the changes did little to alter the fundamental partisan dynamics that will come to a head on Tuesday evening. And Democrats said the shifts were surface-level, doing little to change the partisan course of the trial.
"It's clearly an effort to put in place what the White House wanted. And to ignore what [McConnell] had promised the Senate to adopt the rules that the Clinton impeachment used," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in an interview. "This is not a fair trial ... this is a cover-up, pure and simple."
McConnell and Schumer clashed throughout the day as McConnell and the GOP ignored Schumer’s demands to secure witnesses and documents. And almost entirely on party lines, Republicans began rejecting Democrats' amendments to immediately agree to hear debate on documents.
And amid sustained criticism from Democrats for appearing to rush the trial, McConnell defended his blueprint for the first time since it was released on Monday evening.
"Finally some fairness. On every point our straightforward resolution will bring the clarity and fairness that everyone deserves. The president of the United States, the House of Representatives and the American people. This is the fair road map for our trial," McConnell said shortly before the trial kicked off for the day.
McConnell beat back all Democratic amendments regarding witnesses and documents, which Republicans agreed won’t be debated until next week. Schumer was aghast, calling McConnell's plans "one of the darker moments in the Senate's history. Perhaps even the darkest."
“McConnell’s very resolution puts many obstacles in the path of getting witnesses and documents even later,” Schumer said Tuesday. “Right off the bat Republican senators will face a choice about getting the facts or joining Leader McConnell and President Trump in trying to cover them up.”
Republicans voted to kill Schumer's amendments on party lines, notably rebuffing hauling in acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Bolton and OMB officials. Collins was also the only GOP senator to defect on a procedural vote, siding with Democrats on giving more time for trial participants to respond to motions in the proceedings. But that vote fell short anyway and was tabled, 52-48.
Republicans also rejected asking for White House documents related to meetings and calls between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as documents from the State Department, Defense Department and Office of Management and Budget. All amendments to McConnell's resolution failed along party lines.
Schumer and McConnell met once for about 20 minutes in December about crafting a bipartisan resolution but got nowhere. Schumer pushed for a deal on witnesses and documents before the trial started and McConnell ignored him. Instead, the GOP leader chose to put a far more partisan stamp on the beginning of the trial than the 100-0 vote that kicked off Clinton’s impeachment trial.
Republicans dismissed the Democratic grumbling as theater, believing they never had any intention of working with the GOP.
“My response is that no matter what was in the resolution, I was confident the Democrats would be critical of it,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). “That’s part of the role they decided to play here.”
Under McConnell’s resolution, the Senate will eventually vote on whether to hold a debate on witnesses and documents after the opening arguments and a 16-hour question-and-answer period for senators. All votes on motions in the Senate trial require just a simple majority; the final vote on convicting the president and removing him from office needs 67.
Provided that Democrats’ push to call witnesses fails, Republicans could still potentially clear Trump before his State of the Union address.
"We should be able to," said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
That would give Trump the quick trial and acquittal that he has long sought; it would also allow Senate Democrats that are running for president to return to the campaign trail more quickly.
John Bresnahan, Jesse Naranjo and Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.
