WASHINGTON.- The United States Senate on Tuesday began the political trial against President Donald Trump, only the third in the country's history, amid partisan quarrels about the rules that will regulate the process and whether the call will finally be allowed. of additional witnesses.
Follow the minute-by-minute Trump political trial here
Throughout the day, the Senate has rejected, on partisan lines, every amendment submitted by the Democrats to demand witnesses and additional documents.
The process, in charge of the president of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, began shortly after one o'clock in the afternoon local time, with the revision of the rules that will regulate the debate of the accusations against Trump for abuse of power and obstruction to the Congress. The charges are linked to his alleged pressure on Ukraine last year to initiate an investigation into his political rival, former vice president Joe Biden.
Following the objections of the Democrats, the leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, modified the rules by hand, so that both the prosecution and the defense will present their arguments for a total of up to 24 hours spread over three days , instead of two.
McConnell will also allow the inclusion of evidence already reviewed by the House of Representatives during the Democratic investigation into Trump's alleged irregularities to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden, as part of his effort to facilitate his re-election on November 3.
In general, today's debate took place in the middle of recriminations between Democrats and Republicans about the legitimacy of the process, and repeated the drama in the House of Representatives last year.
The lower house approved the political trial against Trump in a partisan vote on December 18, and formally sent the charges to the Senate last Wednesday.
The defense argues that the charges are unfounded and that the Democrats lack evidence and had to prepare their case well before sending the charges to the Senate. Democrats retort that Trump banned testimonies and the delivery of documents, and that no trial would take place under those conditions.
Blockade of Democratic amendments
Therefore, the leader of the Senate Democratic minority, Chuck Schumer, presented an amendment to demand the delivery of hundreds of Administration documents related to the pressure to Ukraine - which the White House refused to deliver in 2019 - but his amendment was defeated, on partisan lines, in a vote of 53-47.
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The second amendment, also defeated, required the delivery of State Department documents, including text messages between the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and members of the Administration.
During his speech, the Democratic Congresswoman for Florida, Val B. Demmings, argued that these documents are key to understanding the alleged coordination between several high-ranking officials of the State Department and the Administration to pressure Ukraine.
The Senate eliminated a third amendment to demand documents from the Office of Management and Budget of the White House, related to military aid of about $ 400 million to Ukraine, which the Administration temporarily withheld.
Republicans also defeated a fourth amendment to demand the testimony of the White House Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney.
Schumer denied a request by McConnell to combine the rest of his amendments into one, to expedite the process, and proceeded to submit his fifth amendment, which required documents and files from the Pentagon related to Ukraine. That was also defeated.
The Senate buried a sixth amendment to demand the testimony of two senior White House officials, Michael P. Duffey and Robert B. Blair, who were involved in retaining military aid to Ukraine.
Texas Democratic Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia - the only Latina on the team of seven administrators or prosecutors in the lower house - splashed her arguments with phrases in Spanish, explaining the importance of the testimony of both officials, who last year refused to cooperate on Trump's orders.
"No one is above the law," said Garcia, a former judge in Houston.
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The seventh amendment, also rejected, required access to all the evidence collected by the lower house last year, not just those that benefit one of the parties.
The following amendment, pending vote, requires the testimony of the former National Security advisor, John Bolton, who said he is willing to present relevant information.
The Democratic strategy, it seems, was to describe in detail the documents that the White House has refused to deliver and which, in its opinion, would demonstrate the cover-up of the pressure campaign against Ukraine. Prosecutors have shown images, videos of the 2019 hearings, and partially crossed out documents, as well as Trump's statements, to strengthen their arguments.
According to sources close to the Administration, both the defense and Republican senators work behind the scenes to prevent the testimony of key figures like Bolton.
Trump's lawyer, Pat Cipollone, argued that the charges against the president "are not only ridiculous but dangerous for the republic," and criticized the Democrats now want more time to argue their case.
Shortly before, the Democratic Democrat for California, Adam Schiff, who leads the team of prosecutors, listed what he considered "failures" in the Republican resolution, and accused the Republicans of wanting to hide the evidence.
Schiff criticized the Republicans' refusal to accept witnesses or documents even though they promised "impartial justice," but argued that "the truth will come out" in the end.
"The documents hidden by the president will be disclosed over time through FOIA (a court summons) or other means. Witnesses will tell their stories in books and movies. The truth will come out, and the question is whether it will come out on time." he emphasized.
The senators will vote on the resolution with the rules, and from tomorrow until next Friday they will listen to the arguments of the accusation.
New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez told reporters that, in his opinion, the Republican resolution does not guarantee "a fair, transparent and honest trial" but helps cover up Trump.
McConnell "said that he would be nail in flesh with the president and his wishes, and obviously his resolution does that exactly ... it is a cover-up," Menéndez argued, referring to statements by the Republican leader that his bench would coordinate with the House White to exonerate Trump.
As of next Saturday, the defense will have its turn and, according to the calendar, the trial will tentatively culminate with a vote to dismiss or exonerate Trump on January 31. Two thirds of the Senate will be required to approve at least one of the charges to dismiss him.
Strong security measures
From the full Senate, to which Telemundo News had access with a small group of journalists, senators took notes in silence, or listened with folded arms. Some had huge folders full of documents on their desks, and they only had access to glasses of water, milk, or candy.
As the night progressed, some of the senators, including McConnell, began to nod at their desks.
The process is carried out under strong security measures: only the Senate chambers record the deliberations; electronic devices of any kind are not allowed - only paper and pencil or a pen -, and journalists require a special pass to enter the room, and another to perform their work in the Senate.
In addition, the public must go through metal detectors, and the wait to enter the room on the first day of the trial was at times of up to two hours.
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As of next Saturday, the defense team, led by Cipollone and which also includes Ken Starr, an independent ex-lawyer who prosecuted Bill Clinton in 1999, and Alan Dershowitz, a famous constitutional law expert, will present his case. The team has promised to show that Trump did not commit any crime and that the charges are politically motivated.
Trump: "It's embarrassing"
From Davos, Switzerland, where he participates in the World Economic Forum, Trump called this process a "farce."
"It's a witch hunt that has been going on for years and, frankly, it's embarrassing," the president said in statements reproduced by NBC News.
Trump has closely followed the trial: with six hours of difference between Washington and Davos, the president spent retweeting Republican criticism of the Senate process.
His legal team presented Monday a document in which he affirms that the political trial is "a dangerous misrepresentation of the Constitution," which also jeopardizes the right to vote of Americans.
Cipollone repeated the argument of the Administration and its allies that the Senate must reject the charges and acquit the president.
On the Democratic side, Schumer and other leaders of his bench warned that McConnell's proposal is a "cover-up."
Speaking to the press, the Democratic Senator for Illinois, Dick Durbin, said today that "nobody is above the law," and condemned that Republicans are covering up Trump, ignoring his constitutional obligations.
This is only the third presidential political trial in the history of the United States, and began only thirteen days before the start of the primaries for the 2020 elections, with four Democratic senators running for the presidential nomination of their party.
In fact, the rules require the presence of the 100 senators throughout the process, so the four senators now stuck in Washington, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, and Michael Bennet, have had to adjust their agenda and rely on its allies so as not to interrupt their electoral acts.
Pelosi, who led the accusations against Trump, leads a congressional delegation that travels to Poland and Israel to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz's release at the end of World War II.
See also: Cacerolazos in Washington DC for the political trial of President Trump
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