Trump Impeachment Trial Day 2: Schiff Alleges ‘Corrupt Scheme’ as House Managers Make Their Case

Jack Phillips
By Jack Phillips
January 23, 2020Politics
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Wednesday’s session of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial began when the Senate reconvened at 1 p.m., with House impeachment managers presenting their opening arguments. They have 24 hours over three days to present their case against the president on obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. Next, the president’s legal team will have the same amount of time to present their defense.

The senators adopted impeachment trial rules early Wednesday morning.

The House’s impeachment managers are led by Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the Democratic chairmen of the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, respectively.

Trump has a legal team consisting of White House counsel Pat Cipollone, personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz, former prosecutor Robert Ray, and more. The team did not take the opportunity on Wednesday to file a motion to dismiss the impeachment case.

Here is how the second day of the Senate trial unfolded:

9:45 p.m. ET – Trial is Adjourned

Schiff made his closing statements for the House’s first day of arguments, revisiting the chronology of the events surrounding what he called the president’s “corrupt scheme.”

“We’ve introduced the case, we’ve gone through the chronology, and tomorrow we will apply the effects of the law as it pertains to the president’s abuse of power,” Schiff said.

Schiff also suggested that more people may be involved in the “scheme” as he called for the inclusion of more witnesses and evidence near the end of his statement.

“You and the American people should know who else was involved in this scheme,” he said. “You should want the whole truth to come out, you should want to know about every player in this sordid business.”

The trial was adjourned at 9:40 p.m. and will resume at 1 p.m. on Thursday.

9:10 p.m. ET – Schiff Resumes the Floor

Schiff returned to the mic, saying that House Managers have about 20 minutes left in the presentation, and that he would “now go through with you the president’s efforts to hide this corrupt scheme even as it continued well into the fall of last year.”

He turned his focus to events that came after the Aug. 12, when the whistleblower complaint was submitted to the intelligence committee.

8:45 p.m. ET – Lofgren Continues From Schiff

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who took over the floor at about 8.45 p.m., proceeded to speak about events that occurred after news of U.S. military aid being withheld from Ukraine first became public on Aug. 8, leading up to when the hold was lifted on Sept. 11.

8:25 p.m. ET – Schiff Calls For More Evidence

In his remarks to the Senate after dinner, Schiff revisited accounts of events that came after the July 25 phone call, as well as the Trump administration’s temporary hold on military aid to Ukraine. He also played several clips of testimony from Ambassador William Taylor, the charge d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Ukraine.

Schiff went on to push for access Taylor’s notes to be turned over by the State Department and presented in the trial—mainly those related to a phone call he had with Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union.

“We want to know exactly what happened in that conversation when it was fresh in Sondland’s mind, and he told Taylor about it, and Taylor told it in his notes. You’re going to want Taylor’s notes,” Schiff said.

“In any courtroom in America holding a fair trial, you would want to see contemporaneous notes. This Senate should be no different.

“Demand those notes, demand to see the truth,” he said, adding that the House managers hadn’t seen them.

“Maybe those notes say something completely different. Maybe those notes saw no quid pro quo. Maybe those notes say it’s a perfect call. I’d like to see them.

“They’re yours for the asking,” he told the Senate.

Shortly after, Schiff also pushed for notes taken by Tim Morrison, a senior National Security Council official. According to Schiff, Sondland called Morrison to update him on a conversation that Sondland had with Trump on Sept. 7.

“Unlike Sondland who testified that he never took notes, Morrison took notes of that conversation and recalled it during his public testimony,” Schiff said. “There’s a written record of what President Trump told Ambassador Sondland right after that call, would you like to see that written record? It’s called Morrison’s notes.

“There’s a good way to find out what happened on that call because it’s in writing,” Schiff told the Senate. “Is there any question why they’re withholding this from Congress?”

7:20 p.m. ET – Senate Back in Session

Schiff has taken the floor. He said he expects the session to end around 10 p.m. after he and Rep. Zoe Lofgren give their presentations.

schiff
In this image from video, House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) speaks during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2020. (Senate Television via AP)

6:35 p.m. ET – Senate in recess

Sen. Ted Cruz (R- Texas) said during a dinner break, “The need for the Senate to hear the testimony of Hunter Biden has become more relevant,” following Jeffries speech summarizing the Trump-Zelensky July 25 phone call during which the president asked Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.

Cruz said Senate Republicans will “do a better job” than House Democrats to allow both sides the “full opportunity” to present their cases.

“Today Adam Schiff said [that] if a defendant is denied the right to call witnesses to prove his innocence, that’s not a fair trial. Well, the problem is that is exactly what House Democrats did where they put on prosecution witnesses, they refused to allow Hunter Biden to be called.

“The House Democrats have now made Hunter Biden central to the question of the president’s interest and yet they did exactly what they said,” he said.

House Managers have used 4h and 55 minutes of their time, and will have another 19h 5 minutes to make arguments.

5:50 p.m. ET – Jeffries Refers to Trump-Zelensky Call

In a speech over half an hour long, House impeachment manager Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told the Senate that he questioned why Trump would mention Rudolph Giuliani’s name in a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian president Zelensky as Giuliani is not part of the White House.

hakeem jeffries
In this image from video, House impeachment manager Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, (D-N.Y.), speaks during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2020. (Senate Television via AP)

“On multiple occasions, President Trump directed Ukraine’s new leader to speak with his personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, on an official call,” Jeffries said. “Mr. Giuliani is not a member of the Trump administration.”

According to the publicly released call transcript, Trump mentioned Giuliani after Zelensky said his team would like to meet with the lawyer. Trump them asked Zelensky for a “favor” in that talk to Attorney General William Barr regarding the “Crowdstrike” situation. He also asked Zelensky to talk to Barr about the Bidens.

In a separate part of his speech, Jeffries said, “Giuliani is not the secretary of state. He’s not an ambassador. He’s not a member of the diplomatic corps.”

5:40 p.m. ET – Demings Calls on Senate to Compel Bolton Testimony

Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), one of the House managers, called on the Senate to compel testimony from former White House national security adviser John Bolton. Some witnesses claimed Bolton told another official that the Ukraine affair was a “drug deal.” Bolton, however, has never confirmed those statements.

“The American people want to hear from [John] Bolton,” she said.

Previously, Bolton said he would be willing to testify in the Senate trial.

5:10 p.m. ET – House Manager Jason Crow Speaks

House manager Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), an Army veteran, spoke to the Senate and aided to make House Democrats’ opening argument.

Of the withheld aid to Ukraine, he said Kyiv “can’t fight effectively without it.”

4:45 p.m ET – GOP Senator Says House Managers’ Arguments Are Repetitive

“I think we’re already beginning to lose certainly the television audience and maybe the press to some extent, but certainly senators are struggling to try to see why we have to sit there, sit hearing the same arguments over and over and over and over again,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters.

He also said the Senate is being tied up by the trial.

“Let’s say a witness like Mick Mulvaney or John Bolton come. invariably the White House would claim executive privilege. There’d be a lawsuit filed in District Court in the District of Columbia that would then go to the Court of Appeals and then potentially the Supreme Court. That could take months,” he said. “In the meantime, the Senate can’t do anything else, we can’t confirm judges we can’t have hearings, we can’t even introduce legislation.”

Trump Lawyer Responds

Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s lead attorneys, said House Democrats need to move forward without any documents or witnesses. He told reporters during the break in proceedings that “the more they do these two-and-a-half-hour events at a time, it undercuts their entire argument.”

“Unless he’s making it up, it seems like he’s got a lot of information,” Sekulow told reporters of Schiff. “So proceed with your case.”

Sekulow continued: “Look, they’re putting on their case. The good news is we only have 22 hours more to go of their side and we’ll go. Let them put their case on and we’ll continue.”

4 p.m. ET – Impeachment Trial Back on, Nadler Speaks

Nadler is now speaking on the House floor and defended former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled by the White House last year. He accused Trump of engaging in a “campaign of slander” to try and push out  Yovanovitch.

3:30 p.m. ET – Senate in recess

The Senate has gone into recess until at least 3:50 p.m. local time. It follows more than two hours of opening remarks from Schiff.

3:15 p.m. ET – White House Responds to Schiff

“Schiff keeps lying. At no point on the call did President Trump ask President Zelensky to announce investigations. It’s all in the transcript,” the White House wrote on Twitter as Schiff spoke.

2:53 p.m. ET – Schiff Describes Military Aid

Schiff said that U.S. military aid to Ukraine was designed to help Kyiv “defend itself from the Kremlin’s aggression. More than 15,000 Ukrainians have died fighting Russian forces and their proxies. 15,000.” He said that the aid was Congressionally approved.

“Should Congress just get over it? Should the American people just come to expect that our presidents will corruptly abuse their office to seek the help of a foreign power to cheat in our elections? Is that what we’ve come to? I hope and pray that the answer is no,” he later asked.

2:30 p.m. ET – Schiff Describes Texts

Schiff went over text messages between White House officials before the July 25 call.

Schiff said a text between envoy Kurt Volker and an aide to Ukraine’s president occurred 30 minutes before the call.

“They [Trump’s team] don’t want you to look at the months that went into that call or the months of pressure that followed,” Schiff said. “He was prepped … Of course he was been prepped.”

1:45 p.m ET – Schiff Says Senators Need to Act Impartially

“The Constitution entrusts you to the responsibility of acting as impartial jurors, have a fair trial and weigh the evidence before you no matter what your party affiliation or vote in the previous election or the next, our duty is to the Constitution and the rule of law,” said Schiff during the trial.

“You have the added difficulty of having to weigh the facts and the law, so I want to begin today by thanking you for the conduct of the proceedings yesterday and for inviting your patience as we go forward,” Schiff also said.

1:15 p.m. ET – Impeachment Back in Session

The Democratic House impeachment managers are making their opening statements today, starting with House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff.

Schiff laid out the Democrats’ inquiry findings against Trump, saying that Trump pushed for investigations “completely without merit.”

He claimed Trump wanted to investigate “debunked” claims about former Vice President Joe Biden, son Hunter Biden, and alleged Ukrainian election interference in 2016. Trump has defended the investigations and denied allegations of quid pro quo.

12:45 p.m. ET – Adam Schiff Lays Out Plan

“We will go into extensive detail about what happened and when and how we know that it happened. We do not assume everyone in the Senate was able to watch all of the house testimony. Some of you in the press were not able to do that. We can’t assume the senators were even as we were, let alone the American people were able to do so. We will lay out the facts and chronology and new facts continue to come to light,” Schiff told reporters just minutes ahead of the trial start.

11 a.m. ET – Schumer Criticizes GOP in Press Conference

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) held a press conference two hours before the impeachment session on Wednesday, saying that a “particular amendment revealed the charade that the Republicans are participating in here.”

“It meant that presentations could not rely on this important evidence. That senators cannot ask questions about this evidence,” Schumer added.

Earlier Updates:

On Tuesday, none of the Democrats proposed amendments were approved, with all 53 Republicans blocking them from moving forward. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also offered a concession, allowing for the House and Trump’s legal team to make their arguments in three days instead of two. He also loosened a restriction on the Senate records.

Trump said Wednesday he would like to see some of his top aides testify, but he suggested there were “national security” concerns regarding their testimony.

“We have a great case,” Trump told The Associated Press at a global economic forum in Davos. The president said his legal team was doing a “very good job.”

After one politically charged exchange between Trump’s lawyers and the House managers, Chief Justice John Roberts intervened, and told both sides to “remember where they are.”

“I think it is appropriate at this point for me to admonish both the House managers and the president’s counsel in equal terms to remember that they are addressing the world’s greatest deliberative body,” Roberts said. Senate members should “avoid speaking in a manner and using language that is not conducive to civil discourse,” he continued.

The Senate will decide whether Trump should be removed from office for abuse of power stemming from his alleged pressure on Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and Biden’s son Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, and for obstructing Congress’ ensuing probe. Trump has denied the allegations of quid pro quo.

Epoch Times Staff contributed to this report.

From The Epoch Times

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