{"id":60667,"date":"2020-02-03T11:58:35","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T03:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=60667"},"modified":"2020-02-03T11:58:36","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T03:58:36","slug":"us-pres-trump-impeachment-trial-to-resume-for-final-arguments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=60667","title":{"rendered":"US: Pres Trump impeachment trial to resume for final arguments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump\u2019s impeachment trial resumes for final arguments Monday before an expected acquittal later in the week that Democrats have said will be invalid because no witnesses testified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president was impeached in December for abuse of power over pressure on US ally Ukraine to announce investigations that would have helped him politically, including into Joe Biden, a leading challenger for this year\u2019s presidential ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden is among the candidates Monday in the Iowa caucuses that choose the state\u2019s Democratic nominee and mark the official start of election season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The selection process in largely rural Iowa, coinciding with final
impeachment arguments in Washington, will be closely watched as a sign as to which of 11 Democratic candidates are gaining early momentum to challenge Trump in November\u2019s election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At only the third impeachment trial of a US president, Trump is all but
assured of being acquitted Wednesday, the day after his annual \u201cState of the
Union\u201d speech, which the president said will carry a \u201cvery, very positive
message.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate to 47 for the Democrats, but a
two-thirds majority, or 67 senators, is needed to remove him from office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam Schiff, the leader of the House prosecutors, known as impeachment
managers, told CBS on Sunday that it was \u201cpretty remarkable\u201d that senators on both sides had acknowledged that Democrats proved their case against the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m not letting the senators off the hook. We\u2019re still going to go
into the Senate this week and make the case why this president needs to be
removed. It will be up to the senators to make that final judgment, and the
senators will be held accountable for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Joni Ernst on Sunday said Trump\u2019s behavior was troubling but not impeachable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander, of Tennessee, suggested Trump had been naive in asking a
foreign ally to look into Biden and his son Hunter\u2019s business dealings in
Ukraine, which Republicans have claimed without evidence were corrupt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ernst said it was \u201cup to the American people\u201d to decide on Trump\u2019s
behavior, adding that she would vote Wednesday to acquit the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump is also accused of obstruction of Congress for ordering officials
not to comply with subpoenas for documents and testimony as part of the
impeachment inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, just two Republicans \u2014 Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins
of Maine \u2014 joined Democrats in voting to introduce witnesses, a practice
they said was followed at every other impeachment trial in US history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A narrow majority of Americans believe Trump abused his power and
obstructed Congress by withholding documents and testimony during the
impeachment inquiry, according to a new NBC\/WSJ poll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they remain divided on whether he should be kicked from office, with
46 percent hoping to see him removed and 49 percent saying he should keep his job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats had been eager to hear from Trump\u2019s former national security
advisor John Bolton, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and
other key administration figures caught up in the scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bolton reportedly says in a forthcoming book that Trump told him military
aid to Ukraine was tied to Kiev\u2019s investigating Biden \u2014 corroborating the
central claim against the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the failure to call witnesses, Senate Democratic leader Chuck
Schumer said the chamber \u201cdid not live up to its responsibilities, turned
away from truth and instead went along with a sham trial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four contenders for the Democratic nomination \u2014 Senators Bernie Sanders,
Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bennet \u2014 are required to be back in Washington Monday at the impeachment trial even as the Iowa caucuses take place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Senate is the jury today but we are the jury tomorrow,\u201d Pete
Buttigieg, who is running third in Iowa, told CNN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd we get to send a message at the ballot box that cheating, lying,
involving a foreign country in our own domestic politics, not to mention
abuse of power more broadly and bad administration, that that\u2019s not okay,
that we can do better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, though, on Sunday complained again, in a Fox News interview that he has been treated unfairly \u201cfrom the day I won.\u201d — NNN-AGENCIES
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump\u2019s impeachment trial resumes for final arguments Monday before an expected acquittal later in the week that Democrats have said will be invalid because no witnesses testified. The president was impeached in December for abuse of power over pressure on US ally Ukraine to announce investigations that would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60667"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}