Within the hallways of the U.S. Capitol, there is growing confidence by GOP Senators that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can whip his caucus to block a vote on witnesses Friday.
While returning to the chamber after a short break Thursday, Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) told Cheddar he's "feeling good" about tomorrow's expected vote.
Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told reporters during the break that Republicans have the "momentum" to move to end the trial tomorrow without witnesses. "If we're able to say no [to witnesses] and go right to final judgment, we'd move in that direction and stay here until that work is decided and completed Friday evening. That's where all the momentum is now."
Still up for debate is what, exactly, happens, if the Republicans vote to end the debate on witnesses quickly.
Meanwhile, back in the chamber, lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff said witness depositions could be limited to just one week and said that the trial should not be rushed just because the State of the Union is Tuesday.
After the break, Senators asked two bipartisan questions, both of which were from senators who may still be undecided on the issue of whether to allow witnesses. First, Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) asked the defense team if the president would assure them that private citizens would not be directed to conduct foreign policy unless formally designated by the president and the State Department.
Murkowski and Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) submitted the second bipartisan question, asking if any action a president takes is inherently political and where the line is between permissible political actions and impeachable political actions.
In President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial, there was only one bipartisan question asked, which Sen. Collins had signed onto at the time.
Financial markets closed, mail delivery stopped, and federal offices shut down as the nation paused to remember the life of President George H.W. Bush, who will be memorialized during a state funeral at Washington's National Cathedral on Wednesday.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018.
The famously stoic president of France may have conceded on fuel taxes to protestors, but his decision was most likely a product of circumstance, not an act of altruism. In this case, said Erin Zaleski of the Daily Beast, Emmanuel Macron had no one with whom he could negotiate. But small concessions, like a fuel tax moratorium, won't be enough to satisfy protesters who are wreaking havoc in the streets of Paris.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018.
The man who spent years behind the lens during President George H.W. Bush's time as president remembers him as a man of honor. David Valdez, chief official White House photographer from 1989 to 1993, reminisced about his years observing the former president on Cheddar Monday, just days after Bush passed away at age 94.
President Trump is opening himself up to allegations of obstruction by publicly dangling a pardon in front of his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, "Proof of Collusion" author Seth Abramson told Cheddar on Monday.
President Trump lauded his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires as "extraordinary" after the two sides agreed to a pause in tariff increases for 90 days. But Hagar Chemali, CEO of Greenwich Media Strategies, said investors shouldn't start the ticker tape parade just yet.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Dec. 3, 2018.
Stock markets and the federal government will close on Wednesday as the U.S. marks a national day of mourning for George H.W. Bush, the 41st president. Bush died at his home in Houston Friday night. He was 94.
Michael Cohen's latest revelations about President Trump's ties to Russia have left the U.S. leader isolated at the G20 summit and "looking like a petulant child" on the world stage, Rick Wilson, author of "Everything Trump Touches Dies," told Cheddar Friday.
