As the Senate trial on the impeachment of President Donald Trump got underway Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans began by facing off first on procedural matters. Democrats angled to admit new witnesses and documents during the Senate trial, while Republicans seem to be largely willing to follow the rules of the Clinton impeachment which allowed Senators to decide that issue later on.
A CNN poll out this weekend noted 69 percent of Americans want Senators to allow new witness testimony.
"I wish the Democrats would have subpoenaed witnesses. They didn't do that," said GOP National Spokesperson Liz Harrington. "They didn't do their job."
Although she said Democrats should have subpoenaed witnesses like the whistleblower and former National Security Adviser John Bolton, the House did notably issue subpoenas to officials like Energy Secretary Rick Perry, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who all denied them. Bolton's attorney reportedly threatened to fight a subpoena initially, but he recently said he will testify if subpoenaed for the Senate trial.
A CNN poll also found that 51 percent of people say Trump should be convicted and removed from office, although Harrington noted, "We've seen plenty of polling that supports the position that American voters should decide who our president is, not partisans in the House of Representatives."
She also called the impeachment inquiry an attempt by Democrats to get a president they don't like out of office, a common argument from Trump's supporters. The Democratic case, she said, is not "about evidence or facts or witnesses."
After Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a four-page set of ground rules for the trial Monday night, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said they seemed "designed by President Trump, for President Trump."
"It appears Leader McConnell decided to go along with the president's desire to cover up," said Schumer.
McConnell has said he is taking cues from the rules set forth in the 1999 Clinton impeachment trial. However, in that case, all witnesses had already been deposed and Clinton had provided the House with relevant documents before the Senate trial had begun in earnest. This time, Trump used executive privilege to block key witnesses from testifying and refused to turn over requested documents to the House.
Some progress was made Tuesday as Democrats and Republicans tried to come to an agreement on rules. McConnell agreed to extend the amount of time both sides have to present their cases from two days to three and agreed to allow evidence from the House hearings to be automatically entered into the record.
However, Senate Republicans struck down Schumer's amendment to subpoena documents the White House refused to turn over during the House investigation.
Trump is accused of withholding $400 million in aid from Ukraine in order to pressure the country's president to publicly announce that the Ukrainian government would launch investigations into political rival former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter and attempting to obstruct the investigation into the matter. He was impeached by the House of Representatives last month.
After the Chicago teachers union voted to work remotely due to what they say is a lack of safety protocols amid the COVID-19 surge, the school system canceled classes on Wednesday, citing harm that remote learning has done to the city's children. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, joined Cheddar to discuss the issues surrounding the latest dispute between educators and schools. She said that the return to in-person learning would likely be halted until more COVID tests could be provided for districts. "This is a terrible situation for everybody, and we need the testing, and we need the masks," she said. "It's the omicron surge that has created this disruption, and we are trying to do the best we can. And this is the only school district that has this kind of action right now." The teachers might not be returning to their schools for at least two weeks amid the ongoing tensions.
Illinois State Senator Robert Martwick joins Cheddar News to discuss the new bill he co-sponsored allowing students in the state to take 5 mental health days without a doctor's note.
On Monday, President Biden announced his new plan to take on inflation by taking down the big meat monopolies - turning to the federal government's antitrust authorities to investigate the major meatpackers that control a significant share of the market. The White House plans to devote one billion dollars to aiding independent meat and poultry producers in an effort to undercut the few powerful meat producers that have control of the sector. Austin Frerick, deputy director of Thurman Arnold Project at Yale, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
As the pandemic drags on, so does the widespread great resignation. In November alone, 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs, marking a new record high, and showing a 9 percent jump from the month prior. On the flip side, the number of people filing tax paperwork to start new businesses is surging, with over 430,000 new businesses launching in November. Rhett Buttle, the founder of Public Private Strategies and national business advisor to the Biden for President campaign, joined Wake Up with Cheddar to discuss.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is ramping up a civil investigation into The Trump Organization. The AG's office has subpoenaed Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. They have refused to comply with the subpoenas. Bradley Moss, national security attorney, joins Cheddar News to discuss the next steps in this investigation.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has officially reduced the 110-year prison sentence of truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos to 10 years, calling the initial lengthy sentence “unjust.” Dan Gilleon, constitutional attorney at Gilleon Law Firm APC, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Former Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was sworn in as the newest Mayor of New York City. Adams is now expected to work on a number of issues such as crime and coronavirus. Erin Durkin,, reporter at PoliticoNY, joins Cheddar News to discuss more.
California's new composting law will affect what residents do in their kitchens. As of this week, Californians will have to recycle excess food in an effort to reduce emissions caused by food waste. Cities and counties will turn recycled food into compost or use it as a renewable energy source. California's new law is the largest mandatory residential food waste recycling program in the country. Rachel Wagoner, Director of the California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery called the law 'the biggest change to trash' since recycling started in the 1980s. She joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
As the U.S. comes up on the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection.,A.C. Thompson, investigative reporter at ProPublica, joined Cheddar's Baker Machado to discuss updates to American Insurrection by FRONTLINE, ProPublica and Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program. The documentary investigates the attack on the Capitol touched off by the lie that the presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump but with new information gleaned since the event including interviews with lawmakers and law enforcement and the evolution of groups like the Boogaloo Boys and the Proud Boys behind the attack. "In some ways those groups that were kind of the vanguard of January 6 are maybe no longer relevant because their message is everywhere," he said.
