As day six of the impeachment trial headed into the evening hours, Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas told Cheddar his experience as a judge and lawyer tells him "in every trial, there are sort of twists and turns, things we can't expect to be answered instantaneously, but will be answered by the time the trial will come to an end."
"I expect to give both sides an opportunity to put this in context. We don't even know what this book says," he said, referencing a book written by ex-national security advisor John Bolton. So far, President Trump's lawyers had yet to bring up Bolton's book in today's session, the manuscript of which was leaked over the weekend and left Republican senators reportedly "blindsided."
Sen. Cornyn added that though he believes The New York Times is biased against the Trump administration, he "frankly would like to see the book itself, but I'm sure the parties will have a chance to answer that." Bolton denied that he, his publisher, or his literary agent coordinated with the Times.
The president's defense team, which had 22 hours left in the trial schedule at the start of today's session, focused on what they described as the threat of the increased use of impeachment, questions of due process, and the ability of the president to withhold information from Congress through executive privilege. Across the way, the White House reportedly prepared for a split in the party that could lead to a request for testimony from Bolton.
Republicans did not bring Bolton up in the first five hours of the day. Defense lawyer Jane Raskin did spend time on the president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and warned senators not to be "distracted" by how Democrats portrayed his involvement.
Executive privilege was brought up continuously throughout the afternoon as defense lawyers underscored the president's reasoning for barring aides from testifying in the name of "immunity."
At times, Senators appeared inattentive through the early portions of the day's sessions. Democratic Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Cory Booker of New Jersey had their hands clasped under their chins for much of the time.
Some remained engaged throughout the session, such as Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who, at one point, asked her neighbor Senator Chris Coons of Connecticut for what looked like a pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution, which she read from as the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton, Ken Starr, read from the preamble of the document. Most senators at the center of the debate for adding witnesses took down pages of notes, like Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.
As the day wore on, the White House defense team focused on Hunter Biden, whose work in Ukraine was central to Trump's fateful July phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
But the reverberations from the John Bolton manuscript remained the day's main storyline with two Republican Senators, Mitt Romney and Susan Collins, saying that the disclosures could spur other Republicans to seek new evidence and hear witnesses, like Bolton.
If that happens, the fast acquittal that Donald Trump was hoping for will be much slower to arrive, and the president could face the prospect of delivering the State of the Union address with the threat of a trial still hanging over his head.
President Biden spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the fourth time this year. Biden and Putin spoke for two hours about the massing of Russian troops and materials near the Russian border with Ukraine. Various outlets have reported that the U.S. has intelligence that Russia could be planning an invasion of Ukraine in the next few months. Both countries said the call was productive, but the situation remains tense.
Hagar Chemali, foreign policy expert and host of "Oh My World!" on YouTube, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
A recent Wall Street Journal poll indicated that Hispanic voters are up for grabs for the upcoming midterm elections, with 41 percent of respondents saying they would vote for Democrats and 44 percent for Republicans. Bryanta "Bre" Maxwell, a Democratic Strategist, former political director for Jaime Harrison's senate campaign, and principal and CEO of Indigo Consulting, LLC, joined Cheddar to break down the numbers and to dive into what this specific electorate is looking for as the balance of power in Congress hangs in the balance in 2022.
Vice President Kamala Harris received impressive amount of media coverage in January for making history. However, the media attention waned significantly and some are now even saying she has almost disappeared from public view. Reecie Colbert, founder of BlackWomenViews Media, joined Cheddar Politics to discuss more.
If you thought you heard the last of the Mueller report back in 2019, you'd be wrong. While the bombshell report was the biggest story in Washington for years, much of the report remained redacted. Our friends at BuzzFeed News weren't satisfied, so they sued to have certain passages unredacted. They notched another win when a federal appeals court ordered ten passages from the report to be released.
Matt Topic, BuzzFeed's attorney in the case, and Jason Leopold, reporter at BuzzFeed News, join Cheddar Politics to discuss.
The U.S. reported its first confirmed case of the omicron variant in California on Wednesday. Scientists and health officials are racing to understand the variant, with the WHO saying it's still too early to determine whether it's more contagious, more deadly or more resistant to vaccines than other variants. Omicron has pushed members of the WHO to commit to start talks over a "gobal pandemic treaty" for future pandemic preparedness.
Priti Krishtel, co-founder and co-executive director of the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
Wednesday was not a good day for those who believe in abortion rights in this country as the Supreme Court heard arguments on a Mississippi abortion law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The majority of the court appears poised to roll back abortion rights, and the questions from the conservative justices seemed to indicate the law for nearly 50 years is likely to change.
Jessica Mason Pieklo, senior vice president and executive editor of Rewire News Group, joined Cheddar Politics to discuss Wednesday's hearing.
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, has been busy since completing his prison sentence in November. He's getting into the NFT space, selling his federal prison badge and the original manuscript of his book "Disloyal" as NFTs. Cohen joined Cheddar to discuss his latest venture and why he thinks there is still much to be revealed about his case.
Jonathan Adler, Law Professor at Case Western Reserve University, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss Tuesday's ruling and provide legal context to recent battles over vaccine mandates.
Carlo and Baker wrap up the week talking about the Biden economic boom that no one seems to notice, a verdict in the Jussie Smollett case, the first Starbucks union in America and the pleasures of the "dude nod."
