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.
As the Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, medical experts are worried conditions in active warzones will exacerbate the current pandemic — or even give rise to other contagions. Dr. Daniel Fagbuyi, a war veteran and former Obama administration biodefense appointee, joined Cheddar News to discuss the ongoing danger of COVID-19 on top of the war, as well as the potential for new variants to emerge. "I mean just large volumes of people definitely is a breeding ground. That's the worst case," he said. "Two things don't mix: war-conflict and a virus, a potential pandemic virus."
Award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, and host Soledad O'Brien spoke to Cheddar about empowering women through her own podcast on financial literacy this Women's History Month.
Six House lawmakers are calling on Meta to stop paid ads from Chinese news companies that push Russian misinformation regarding the war in Ukraine. Matt Skibinski, General Manager, NewsGuard Technologies joins Cheddar to discuss the role of social media in this war.
Reva Shakkottai, Senior Vice President and financial advisor at RBC Wealth Management, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she elaborates on factors besides Wednesday's Fed decision that led to gains across the major indexes on Thursday, including new home construction and jobless claims data.
Art Hogan, Chief Market Strategist at National Securities, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he breaks down Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech following the U.S. central bank's decision to raise rates and explains why Powell's comments move the markets more than the Fed decision itself.
Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif. 29th District) joined Cheddar News at South By Southwest to discuss the variety of sanctions that the United States has placed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine began last month and the impacts they are having both domestically and abroad. With rising gas prices, especially in states like California, Schiff noted that the American people are willing to make sacrifices in order to uphold their values and suggested that crisis may be a warning to shift away from fossil fuels. "At the end of the day though, this ought to be a wake up call that we need to stop our reliance on this oil economy and move to renewable sources of energy," he said. Schiff also explained his remarks about the January 6 commission investigating those closest to former President Trump and touched on a disturbing case in San Francisco where the police department used rape kit samples to ID a murder suspect.
Markets opened lower as the Federal Reserve announces plans to hike interest rates by a quarter point, while signaling six additional rate hikes later this year. Gary Schlossberg, Global Strategist, Wells Fargo Investment Institute, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Apple's Racial Equity and Justice Initiative is a $100 million program aimed at combating systemic racism while working to advance racial equity across the country. Alisha Johnson, director of the initiative, joined Cheddar at SXSW to discuss the work being done. "We focused on three critical areas. The first is education. The second is criminal justice reform, and the third is economic empowerment, really looking first in our own supply chain, how can we really increase our spend with Latinx, Hispanic, and indigenous-owned businesses," she said. "And then how can we go further to empower entrepreneurs who have been cut out of access to funding and capital and really help them to get the funding."
