Passages in bold in the body of the texts below are usually my emphasis, though not always. This is an ongoing project, and I update the site frequently during the day. Because I try to stay focused on what has actually happened, I usually let the news ‘settle’ for a day or so before posting. I hope readers will peruse the articles in full for a better understanding of the issues and their context; our democracy and our future depend on citizens who can distinguish between facts and falsehoods and who are engaged in the political process.
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Friday, 31 January 2020, Day 1,107:
Republicans Block Impeachment Witnesses, Clearing Path for Trump Acquittal, The New York Times, Michael D. Shear and Nicholas Fandos, Friday, 31 January 2020: “The Senate brought President Trump to the brink of acquittal on Friday of charges that he abused his power and obstructed Congress, as Republicans voted to block consideration of new witnesses and documents in his impeachment trial and shut down a final push by Democrats to bolster their case for the president’s removal. In a nearly party-line vote after a bitter debate, Democrats failed to win support from the four Republicans they needed. With Mr. Trump’s acquittal virtually certain, the president’s allies rallied to his defense, though some conceded he was guilty of the central allegations against him. The Democrats’ push for more witnesses and documents failed 49 to 51, with only two Republicans, Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine, joining Democrats in favor. A vote on the verdict is planned for Wednesday. As they approached the final stage of the third presidential impeachment proceeding in United States history, Democrats condemned the witness vote and said it would render Mr. Trump’s trial illegitimate and his acquittal meaningless. ‘America will remember this day, unfortunately, where the Senate did not live up to its responsibilities, when the Senate turned away from truth and went along with a sham trial,’ said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. ‘If the president is acquitted, with no witnesses, no documents, the acquittal will have no value because Americans will know that this trial was not a real trial.'” See also, Day in Impeachment: Senate Votes Against Considering Witnesses, The New York Times, Friday, 31 January 2020. See also, 5 Takeaways From the Trump Impeachment Trial on Friday, The New York Times, Eileen Sullivan, Friday, 31 January 2020. See also, How Democrats and Republicans Voted on Hearing From Witnesses in the Trump Impeachment Trial, The New York Times, Friday, 31 January 2020. See also, Senate set to acquit Trump next week after bid for witnesses in impeachment trial is defeated, The Washington Post, Elise Viebeck, Mike DeBonis, and Seung Min Kim, Friday, 31 January 2020: “The Senate voted to bar new evidence in the impeachment trial Friday, paving the way for President Trump’s acquittal even as several top Republicans acknowledged that his actions toward Ukraine were not appropriate. Eleven days into the trial, the highly anticipated vote, which was decided 51 to 49, revealed the partisan divisions in the chamber over whether to subpoena witnesses and documents, a step Democrats argued was crucial to weighing whether Trump abused his power in pressuring Ukraine to announce investigations of his political rivals. Among Republicans, only Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Mitt Romney (Utah) supported the resolution. In declining to add to the case presented by House Democrats, the Senate delivered a victory for the White House that all but guaranteed that Trump will remain in office. With a final vote on the articles of impeachment set for Wednesday at 4 p.m., Democrats argued that Trump’s expected acquittal will be illegitimate, an acknowledgment of their looming defeat. ‘If [a] judge or president believes that it is to his or her advantage that there shall be a trial with no witnesses, they will cite the case of Donald Trump,’ said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), one of the House impeachment managers. ‘They will make the argument that you can adjudicate the guilt or innocence of the party without hearing from a single witness, without reviewing a single document. . . . I would submit that will be a very dangerous and long-lasting precedent that we will all have to live with.'” See also, Senate to vote Wednesday on whether to remove or acquit Trump on impeachment charges, The Washington Post, John Wagner, Colby Itkowitz, and Michael Brice-Saddler, Friday, 31 January 2020. See also, Republicans defeat Democratic bids to hear witnesses in Trump impeachment trial, Politico, Kyle Cheney, John Bresnahan, and Andrew Desiderio, Friday, 31 January 2020. See also, What we learned at Trump’s trial Friday, Politico, Politico Staff, Friday, 31 January 2020. See also, Senate Rejects Witnesses in Trump Impeachment Trial, The Wall Street Journal, Andrew Duehren, Friday, 31 January 2020: “Senate Republicans rejected Democrats’ demands to call new witnesses and documents in President Trump’s impeachment trial, clearing the way for an acquittal on abuse of power and obstruction-of-Congress charges next week. The 51-49 vote late Friday afternoon represented a major victory for Republican leadership, which has sought to complete the trial as quickly as possible and avoid testimony that could be politically damaging. Democrats had spent weeks calling for the Senate to subpoena former national security adviser John Bolton and other officials, seeking testimony about Mr. Trump’s efforts to press Ukraine to launch investigations that could benefit him politically.” See also, Impeachment Trial of President Trump, CNN Politics, Meg Wagner, Fernando Alfonso III, and Mike Hayes, Friday, 31 January 2020. See also, Senate impeachment trial: Wednesday acquittal vote scheduled after effort to have witnesses fails, CNN Politics, Jeremy Herb, Phil Mattingly, Manu Raju, and Lauren Fox, Friday, 31 January 2020. See also, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Trump can’t be considered acquitted if Senate doesn’t call witnesses in impeachment trial, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Anthony Man, Friday, 31 January 2020: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that if the Senate votes not to convict President Donald Trump after a trial without witnesses, he can’t really be considered ‘acquitted. I disagree with the idea that he could be acquitted’ if the Senate finishes its proceedings on Friday, Pelosi said in a Deerfield Beach interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel Editorial Board. ‘You can’t be acquitted if you don’t have a trial, and you can’t have a trial if you don’t have witnesses and you don’t have documents.’ Even though he would remain in office ‘he is impeached — forever disgraced.’ Pelosi’s comments came before the Senate was to take up the question of whether to call witnesses.”
Trump Told Bolton in Early May to Help With His Ukraine Pressure Campaign to Extract Damaging Information on Democrats from Ukrainian Officials, Book Says, The New York Times, Maggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt, Friday, 31 January 2020: “More than two months before he asked Ukraine’s president to investigate his political opponents, President Trump directed John R. Bolton, then his national security adviser, to help with his pressure campaign to extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials, according to an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton. Mr. Trump gave the instruction, Mr. Bolton wrote, during an Oval Office conversation in early May that included the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, the president’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, who is now leading the president’s impeachment defense. Mr. Trump told Mr. Bolton to call Volodymyr Zelensky, who had recently won election as president of Ukraine, to ensure Mr. Zelensky would meet with Mr. Giuliani, who was planning a trip to Ukraine to discuss the investigations that the president sought, in Mr. Bolton’s account. Mr. Bolton never made the call, he wrote.” See also, A new Bolton revelation ties Trump to Giuliani’s early efforts in Ukraine–and loops in other Trump allies, The Washington Post, Philip Bump, Friday, 31 January 2020: “New reporting from the New York Times suggests that then-national security adviser John Bolton was asked by President Trump to call Ukraine’s then-president-elect Volodymyr Zelensky to encourage Zelensky to meet with Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani. That report, detailed in Bolton’s upcoming book, would be a direct demonstration of Trump leveraging his office to advocate for investigations that would benefit himself personally — as Giuliani himself has indicated. When the New York Times reported last May that Giuliani planned to travel to Ukraine, the president’s lawyer was explicit about what he was seeking. His goal was to encourage Zelensky to investigate alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and allegations centered on former vice president Joe Biden — the two investigations that Trump himself promoted in his call with Zelensky on July 25. Reporting has repeatedly suggested that neither investigation is rooted in demonstrated evidence.”
Trump Administration Adds Six Countries to Travel Ban, The New York Times, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Friday, 31 January 2020: “President Trump on Friday added six countries to his list of nations facing stringent travel restrictions, a move that will virtually block immigration from Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria, and from Myanmar, where the Muslim minority is fleeing genocide. Beside Nigeria, three other African countries, Eritrea, Sudan and Tanzania, will face varying degrees of restrictions, as will one former Soviet state, Kyrgyzstan. Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims could also be caught in the crossfire. All six countries have substantial Muslim populations. The total number of countries now on the restricted travel list stands at 13.” See also, Trump Administration Imposes New Travel Restrictions on Six Countries, The Wall Street Journal, Michelle Hackman, Friday, 31 January 2020.
Continue reading Week 159, Friday, 31 January – Thursday, 6 February 2020 (Days 1,107-1,113)