By LISA MASCARO, MARY CLARE JALONICK and ALAN FRAM/Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he has secured the Republican votes needed to start President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial and postpone a decision on witnesses or documents that Democrats want.
McConnell is expected to launch the trial as soon as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sends the articles of impeachment to the Senate. She is set to meet late Tuesday with her leadership team.
“We have the votes,” McConnell told reporters. He said the question of new witnesses will be addressed later “and not before the trial begins.”
The GOP leader told senators at their closed-door lunch Tuesday has support for his plan, which is modeled after Bill Clinton's impeachment trial 20 years ago. It would start the trial first and postpone votes on witnesses until later in the process.
"He has 51, for sure,"' said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) a top ally of the president, exiting the meeting.
Democrats are ramping up pressure on Republicans to insist on hearing from former national security adviser John Bolton and other witnesses, and not to go along with McConnell's proposal to put off voting on new testimony until later. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calls it a “trap.”
“The Republican leader seems more concerned with being able to claim he went through the constitutional motions than actually carrying out our constitutional duty,” Schumer said Tuesday. He called it an “Alice in Wonderland logic."
Just four GOP senators would be needed to deny McConnell his majority, but he appears to have locked up the votes. GOP leaders were conducting a whip count Tuesday to gauge support. Several GOP senators have indicated they want to hear from Bolton and other witnesses, but they are nevertheless standing with McConnell's plan for starting the trial.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said Tuesday the Clinton process "provided a pathway” to start the trial and consider witnesses “down the road.” He said he supports it.
“I'm comfortable with that process,” Romney said. "And at this stage, I'd like to hear from John Bolton and other witnesses with the right information, but that process will accommodate that.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has also said she supports McConnell's approach. Others say they are not sure they even need to hear from Bolton or other witnesses.
“It’s not that I don't want to hear from him," said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). "I want to hear from him when the House is willing to do their work and have the same agreement with the ambassador on their side of the Hill.”
Trump faces charges that he abused the power of the presidency by pressuring Ukraine's new leader to investigate Democrats, using as leverage $400 million in military assistance that is critical for the ally as it counters Russia at its border.
The funding for Ukraine was eventually released but only after Congress intervened.
Associated Press writer Padmananda Rama in Washington contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
