After voting to block witnesses, the Senate voted Friday to approve a resolution setting the final day of the president’s impeachment trial — and his likely acquittal — for Wednesday, after both the Iowa Caucuses and President Donald Trump's State of the Union address.
Senators debated on how to move forward during a recess after the witness vote’s conclusion. After nearly 90 minutes, it appeared that Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer had reached a deal that would pause the trial until Monday and provide each senator with 10 minutes to explain his or her decision on the president’s conviction or acquittal. The Senate voted on the organizing resolution and Democrats brought four amendments to the floor — all of which were defeated.
Chief Justice John Roberts answered a question from Schumer on whether he would cast a tie-breaking vote. Roberts said it would be “inappropriate for me” to break a 50-50 tie.
One of the amendments brought to the Senate floor tonight on impeachment rules would have required Roberts to rule on motions for evidence.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) had previously told reporters the expectation moving forward would not include closed deliberations. "I'm opposed to it and I believe we will not have any closed sessions," he said. The plan voted on did not include such a provision.
The new resolution provided a timetable for the end of the third impeachment trial of a sitting U.S. president. The Senate will recess for the weekend until Monday at 11 a.m. Then House Managers and the defense counsel will each have two hours to make closing arguments. Senators will be allowed to give floor speeches for parts of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The vote would be scheduled for 4 pm Wednesday.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said, upon leaving the GOP meeting, that "the process is important, so having the Democrats buy into this final arrangement, I think is more important than just shoving it down their throats because sooner or later the shoe will be on this foot."
Senators will vote on two articles of impeachment: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to allegations President Trump pressured Ukraine to announce investigations into his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son Hunter by withholding nearly $400 million in security aid.
Democrats had been pushing to hear from new witnesses since the trial began nearly two weeks ago, especially after John Bolton, the former national security advisor, said he would testify and new evidence was reported by the New York Times indicated Bolton's unpublished manuscript contained details in which the president told advisors to withhold aid to Ukraine as early as last spring. Only two Republicans — Senators Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) — voted with the Democrats.
Russian forces escalated their attacks on populated urban areas Tuesday, bombarding the central square in Ukraine’s second-largest city and Kyiv’s main TV tower.
A bipartisan group of 43 representatives joined forces in a letter to President Joe Biden to remind the executive branch that it must seek the approval of Congress before authorizing a war — whether or not its in Ukraine as Russia continues its invasion. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore. 4th District) led the effort and joined Cheddar News Wrap to explain. "It's time for Congress to get back the authority, which is vested to us in the constitution, not in the executive branch," he said. "The president. once we're at war, we speak with one voice with the commander in chief. But before that, it's up to the American people and Congress whether or not we're going to become engaged in a war."
Chris Konstantinos, Chief Investment Strategist at RiverFront Investment Group, explains why he remains encouraged about the S&P and the state of the market despite the major indexes closing mostly lower on Monday.
President Joe Biden will be delivering his first State of the Union address on Tuesday night, and with so many issues from Ukraine to inflation, everyone will be focused on what he might say. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y. 11th District) joined Cheddar News to discuss what she thinks the president should address. "I think what he hasn't done yet is go after the gas, the oil, the minerals, the mining industries, that is incredibly important," she said. "There's still some banks there that are not sanctioned. He needs to go after all the banks, but I also think that providing the equipment that Ukraine needs to continue to protect its capital and its country are incredibly important."
As Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, one of its few big allies remaining appears to be China. Gordon Chang, Asian affairs expert and author of "The Coming Collapse of China," joined Cheddar News to discuss what might be behind China's support for Putin's current strategy. “I think China is looking at what Putin did yesterday, which is to raise his nuclear forces on a higher alert level,” Chang stated, “If they see that Putin gets away with his nuclear threats, which he's been making over the last three or four days, then I'm sure that Beijing is going to ramp up its threats as well, and it could ramp them up against any number of different countries with which it perceives it has a problem with"
Joel Rubin, president of the Washington Strategy Group and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, joins Cheddar News to discuss the Russia-Ukraine tensions and the new sanctions President Biden placed on Russia.
