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On witnesses at the Senate trial, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said: “we’ll be dealing with the witness issue at the appropriate time.”
“I think it’s certainly appropriate to point out that both sides would want to call witnesses,” McConnell said.
Earlier today: McConnell said this afternoon at a press conference that the Senate impeachment trial will likely begin next Tuesday as long as lawmakers can get through a few “preliminary issues” this week.
This morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she plans to hold a vote on impeachment managers tomorrow. After that, the next step is for the House to send the articles over to the Senate. At some point after that the trial will begin.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said today that he has not yet seen the Senate trial organizing resolution.
“No. I haven’t seen the resolution so I can’t be on board with anything yet,” Schumer said.
On the question of who will serve as House impeachment managers, Schumer said, “I have great faith in Speaker Pelosi, she has tremendous, tremendous talent in her caucus and she’ll pick a good team.”
Sen. Roy Blunt, a member of the Senate GOP leadership who has been working closely on the impeachment trial logistics, told CNN he doesn’t believe the Senate trial will be done by Feb. 4 as the White House and Trump’s allies hope.
He added there’s “no reason” to think Trump won’t be giving the State of the Union when the trial is going on, similar to what happened to Bill Clinton in 1999.
“It’s hard to imagine this would be over quicker than two or three weeks,” Blunt said.
Sen. Mitch McConnell said this afternoon at a press conference that the Senate impeachment trial will likely begin next Tuesday as long as lawmakers can get through a few “preliminary issues” this week.
On whether the motion to dismiss will be included in the organizing resolution, McConnell told reporters that there is “little or no sentiment” for this among Republican senators.
“Our members feel that we have an obligation to listen to the arguments,” McConnell said.
More on this: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier today that she plans to hold a vote on impeachment managers tomorrow. After that, the next step is for the House to send the articles over to the Senate. At some point after that the trial will begin.
As GOP leadership pushes back on idea to include a motion to dismiss in their resolution citing the fact that the votes are not there anyway, and it would be better to acquit the President outright, some of Trump’s hill allies are still pushing to have a vote.
In an interview with reporters today ahead of the Senate GOP’s lunch, White House legislative affairs advisor Eric Ueland told reporters that “the President’s rights will be protected including the right to a motion to dismiss.”
“It will be included in the resolution?” CNN’s Lauren Fox asked Ueland.
“The technicalities are for others to talk through, but we are confident the President’s rights will be protected,” Ueland said.
Here is where things get interesting: Even if a motion to dismiss is not included in the Senate’s formal organizing resolution, any individual member could still force a vote on it. So, be on the lookout for how some of the President’s closest allies on the hill approach this.
Sen. David Perdue, a Georgia Republican who talks to Trump and advises him regularly, said that he is still interested in the motion to dismiss and hinted Republicans may need to step up and force a vote on it.
“I would vote to dismiss immediately. I would love for us to move to just have a vote to dismiss,” Perdue said.
Then, just moments later, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), another close ally of Trump’s, said flat out that a motion to dismiss was not realistic and should not happen.
There clearly is still a divide about what to do with the motion to dismiss question, but we should not assume it is settled even if leadership is posturing against it.
President Trump’s impeachment wasn’t discussed today during a press conference acknowledging the 10-year anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling attended by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi didn’t answer any questions.
Citizens United was a landmark 2010 Supreme Court decision that paved the way for the creation of so-called super PACs, and unlimited, undisclosed contributions to outside groups that are often impossible to track.
More on Pelosi: Earlier today, Pelosi confirmed that the vote on the impeachment managers will be held tomorrow. That vote will then allow the articles of impeachment to be sent to the Senate.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has confirmed that the vote on the impeachment managers will be held Wednesday, according to a statement she released this morning.
Pelosi added: “The President and the Senators will be held accountable.”
It’s likely to be deja vu all over again at President Trump’s State of the Union speech.
Trump is not expected to delay his upcoming State of the Union address because of any complications arising from his impeachment trial in the Senate, according to two White House officials.
One official pointed to former President Bill Clinton’s 1999 State of the Union, which occurred as his impeachment trial was underway, as proof that Trump can do the same on February 4, three weeks from today.
“It could run up against the State of the Union,” said one official who specifically noted Clinton also delivered his speech during his impeachment trial.
Could the speech be delayed? “No,” a separate official stated flatly.
Some more historical context: Clinton did not even mention his impeachment trial during his State of the Union address on January 19, 1999. Several GOP House members boycotted Clinton’s speech to register their disgust with the 42nd president, who was on trial at the time on charges of obstruction of justice and perjury resulting from his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was later acquitted.
During his address to the nation, Clinton touted his handling of the economy, a theme that is almost certainly to reemerge in Trump’s State of the Union, which is scheduled one day following the Iowa caucuses.
But, some of Trump’s allies appear to disagree. Former White House strategist Steve Bannon floated the idea of delaying the State of the Union over the weekend during an interview on Fox Business, and Senator John Cornyn sounded open to the idea in comments made to the Washington Examiner.
An announcement on who will serve as impeachment managers for the Senate trial could come at any time between now and tomorrow’s vote, members say. But there is a lack of clarity on what that will look like.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said this morning that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “may well announce the managers before the resolution comes to the floor” tomorrow.
Hoyer’s comments came after Pelosi told reporters Democrats “will be presenting them on the floor tomorrow” when asked when she will announce the managers.
Others said she could wait until the resolution is brought up — Rep. Dan Kildee told CNN after this morning’s caucus meeting that his understanding of the timing is “it’ll be announced at the time we take up the resolution.”
House Democratic Caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries said the “ball is in the Senate’s court” as it relates to the impeachment of President Trump.
Former White House national security adviser John Bolton says he is willing to testify — if he is subpoenaed — in the Senate’s impeachment trial.
Bolton is one of several witnesses whom Senate Democrats are now pushing for in the Senate trial, including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House aide Rob Blair.
House Republican leadership held their weekly press conference this morning, and they criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the delay in transmitting articles of impeachment.
House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy said “there was nothing gained” by holding the articles and suggested that Pelosi’s move will hurt senators running for president.
House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy suggested that Pelosi is giving an unfair advantage to former Vice President Joe Biden in the presidential race and disadvantaging 2020 candidates in the Senate who will now have to sit for the trial, like Sen. Bernie Sanders.
House Democratic Caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries said at this morning’s caucus meeting that Speaker Nancy Pelosi “indicated” that the articles of impeachment “will be transmitted to the Senate at some point tomorrow.”
He added that at some point between now and the resolution to transmit the articles being debated on the House floor, “individual impeachment managers will be named.”
Jeffries added, “We are going to keep the focus on the stunning abuse of power” by President Trump.
While Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not announce who would serve as the House Impeachment managers today, impeachment still was a central part of the discussion with Chairman Adam Schiff laying out to the caucus what a Senate trial will look like when the process moves across the Capitol, according to Rep. Peter Welch.
Welch also said while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing that the Senate should use the model used during the Clinton impeachment trial, Welch argued that the model McConnell wants to use is not the same as Clinton’s trial.
“The model is totally different from the Clinton model. The Clinton model they had witnesses beforehand, they had documents,” Welch said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi still has not told her colleagues who she plans to name as impeachment managers but she did suggest that that the House will vote tomorrow on a resolution to name the managers and transmit the articles to the Senate, two sources said.
Pelosi also praised the work of the committee chairs. She then talked about Russia hacking Burisma, and talked about Clinton impeachment procedure.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her Democratic colleagues just now that she will not announce impeachment managers during this morning’s caucus meeting, according to two sources familiar with her remarks.
House Democrats will have their weekly news conference after their closed-door caucus meeting this morning.
It’s expected to begin around 10:15 a.m. ET. You can watch it live above and follow key moments here.
CNN’s Manu Raju asked House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff about reports of Russians hacking into the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, which is at the heart of the impeachment drama surrounding President Donald Trump.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler told CNN’s Manu Raju “I would expect” to be named as an impeachment manager but said he hasn’t been told by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who she expects to name.
He wouldn’t say whether he expects new evidence to be presented in the trial briefs.
Nadler also declined to tell CNN’s Lauren Fox how many impeachment managers Speaker Pelosi would select.
He also told CNN reports of Russian hacking into Burisma shows that the Russians are trying to help Trump again.
A select group of lawmakers will serve as impeachment managers during a Senate trial, acting as prosecutors for House Democrats who will outline the case against President Donald Trump in the Ukraine scandal.
The opportunity to serve as an impeachment manager will offer a high-profile turn in the spotlight for whoever is chosen and the chance to elevate their standing in Congress and with liberal voters.
The performance of the House managers will play a key role in the Senate trial and could be a way for those who are chosen to secure their place in history as part of the impeachment proceedings.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will have final say over who is named as an impeachment manager and there are no restrictions on the number of House impeachment managers the speaker can name to serve in the role. It’s not yet known how many managers will be picked for the Senate trial.
During Clinton’s impeachment trial, 13 House Republicans were chosen as impeachment managers — three are still serving in Congress today.
Those Republican lawmakers who served as managers and still hold seats in Congress are: Rep. Steve Chabot of Ohio, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who was a representative of the state’s third congressional district at the time of the Clinton impeachment.
