What happened (so far) on a historic day in the Senate.
Welcome back to the Impeachment Briefing. Today marked the true start of the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history. |
- At 1 p.m. today, the impeachment trial of President Trump began in earnest, with House managers and White House lawyers debating a resolution introduced by Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, setting the rules for the trial. As of 10 p.m., when this newsletter was published, the back-and-forth was still going, slowed by breaks, long presentations and Democratic amendments to the resolution, all of which were voted down along party lines. The proceedings could stretch past midnight.
- Among the amendments that were rejected: subpoenas for documents from the White House, the State Department and the Office of Management and Budget, and a subpoena for Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff. Why the seemingly futile attempts by Senate Democrats? As my colleague Carl Hulse wrote today: They want to show their supporters that they are going to put up a fight, and to force Republicans into votes that show how far the party will go to shield Mr. Trump from scrutiny.
- The arguments this afternoon grew bitter and personal. Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel and lead lawyer for Mr. Trump in the trial, often seemed to mimic the language and mood of the president, mocking Representative Adam Schiff, the lead House manager, for his depiction of the July 25 call between Mr. Trump and Ukraine’s president.
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The Senate is expected to pass the resolution dictating the rules for the first phase of the trial, incorporating a few important changes that Mr. McConnell made at the last minute at the behest of some Republican senators, including Susan Collins, a moderate vote who will be crucial to both parties. Here are four of the key provisions. |
1. Mr. McConnell gave the House managers and Mr. Trump’s defense team an extra day to argue their cases, meaning both sides will be allowed to split their 24-hour presentations over three days. The initial proposal he circulated gave each side just two days — a time frame that could have pushed testimony into the early morning. |
2. The other important alteration was the Senate agreeing automatically — not by vote — to enter the evidence collected by the House impeachment inquiry into the record of the trial, similar to how evidence was handled during President Bill Clinton’s 1999 impeachment trial. |
3. After opening statements, senators will have 16 hours total to question the managers and Trump lawyers. They will then have to decide whether they want to consider new evidence at all. If a majority of senators agree to do so, the managers and prosecutors will be allowed to propose and argue for specific witnesses or documents — each of which would require another vote. |
4. If the Senate allows either the managers or Mr. Trump’s lawyers to subpoena witnesses, those witnesses would first have to be deposed before being allowed to testify. |
What happened away from the Senate floor |
The action wasn’t just in the Senate chamber today. As the trial got going, there was other news that could influence how the trial plays out this week and next. |
Democrats submitted one last batch of paperwork. Just before the trial began, the House managers submitted a final written brief — a 34-page filing that included a point-by-point rebuttal of arguments put forward by Mr. Trump’s lawyers on Monday, and an appeal to senators to convict him. |
Senate Democrats called on constituents to flood phone lines. Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii tweeted the phone number of the Senate switchboard, urging people to call and demand that lawmakers allow new witnesses and evidence to be considered. |
A key Republican said he would wait a little while to decide on witnesses. Senator Mitt Romney, who has said he is interested in hearing from John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, said in a statement today he would consider a vote to call witnesses only after opening arguments are complete, which, under Mr. McConnell’s plan, could be as soon as next week. |
The White House responded angrily to demands that Mr. Cipollone turn over documents. The requests suggested that Mr. Cipollone, the White House counsel, might have conflicts representing the president in a trial that revolved around events in which he played a part. “The idea that the counsel to the president has to turn over protected documents and confidential information is ludicrous,” a White House spokesman said today. |
White House lawyers are preparing for the possibility that witnesses will be allowed. They’re planning contingencies for Mr. Bolton getting called, according to my colleague Maggie Haberman. Objections to his testimony would most likely involve arguing that portions of it are classified, then taking that argument to federal court. |
What it looked like on Capitol Hill today |
Special curved tables were set up in the Senate chamber to accommodate the House managers and White House lawyers. Lawmakers were only allowed to drink water and milk (milk!) in the room during the trial. One senator was responsible for doling out candy to his colleagues, who were forced to sit attentively for the duration of the proceedings. |
I asked my colleague Catie Edmondson, who was on Capitol Hill today, to give me a sense of what it looked and felt like on the first busy day of the trial. Here’s what she told me: |
| A throng of roughly two dozen photographers were stationed in a roped-off pen just between Mr. McConnell’s office and the Senate floor, and as lawmakers walked from his office to their desks, a remarkable and blinding flash of light would go off as the photographers captured them. |
| Security — for everyone — was as restrictive as I’ve ever seen it. Reporters attempting to enter the chamber had to first go through a metal detector (we, along with anyone visiting or working there, ordinarily only go through detectors to enter the Capitol facilities). Aides were escorting reporters confined to those press pens between floors. |
| The visual of all 100 senators seated at their desks sans electronics — many carefully taking notes on legal pads and notebooks with glasses perched on their noses — was also an unusual one for the Senate. We’re used to seeing them milling about ahead of a vote, or not in the chamber at all. |
| Even the gallery above the Senate was notable today. Among the guests: the actress-turned-activist Alyssa Milano and Jeff Flake, the former Republican senator. |
What else we’re following |
- Representative Zoe Lofgren made some history today when she spoke on the Senate floor: She became the first woman to present arguments as a House manager in a presidential impeachment trial.
- My colleague Emily Cochrane wrote about a trial phenomenon that promises to test the vanity of senators: a “daily vow of silence” for the duration of the proceedings, meaning no phones in the Senate chamber. Senator Patrick Leahy joked about that restriction today, doing an impression of Gollum from “Lord of the Rings” to describe the feeling senators have upon retrieving their devices: “My precious!”
- The fresh thrill of the trial wasn’t enough to keep every lawmaker focused. Jim Risch, the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, appeared to doze off around 5:30 this evening, his head resting on his right hand, according to The Washington Post. The Post added that when Representative Val Demings, one of the House managers, played a video clip of testimony, Mr. Risch “briefly perked up, but quickly closed his eyes again.”
- We had a hot mic moment today:
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