Impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump: Live Updates

• Nadler says White House counsel should be recused

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, who is also an impeachment manager, said White House Counsel Pat Cippolone should be recused from the Senate trial because he is a fact witness.

Some background: Earlier today, the House managers sent a letter accusing Cipollone of being a “material witness” and demanded that he hand over any information to which he has “first-hand knowledge.”

The managers also wrote that Cipollone’s role on the defense team could “undermine the integrity of the pending trial.”

• Schumer won’t say how many amendments he plans to offer

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wouldn’t say how many amendments he plans to offer to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed trial rules — but said it won’t be 100.

“We’re not going to try to be dilatory and have 100 amendments just to delay things,” he said.

That’s when a reporter asked: “How many amendments?”

“Oh, you’re persistent,” Schumer said, without answering the question.

What this is about: Today, the Senate will take up McConnell’s resolution on the trial rules. After an initial two hours of debate, amendments can be offered. After each amendment is read, the House managers and White House defense team will each have an hour to argue their side of the resolution. Either or both sides can yield back their time at any point.

The amendment process will repeat until Schumer is done offering amendments, at which point the chamber would move to a vote on McConnell’s underlying resolution.

The length of today will be dictated by how many amendments Schumer chooses to propose. While his team has been tight-lipped about how many that will be, Schumer forecasted a “series of amendments” to reporters last night. The bottom line: it could be a long day.

• Sanders cancels Iowa rally due to impeachment schedule

Sen. Bernie Sanders has canceled his rally at the University of Northern Iowa today due to the impeachment schedule, according to a campaign press release.

Sanders is one of four senators running for President. The others are Michael Bennett, Amy Klobuchar, and Elizabeth Warren.

• Schumer plans to offer a “series of amendments” to proposed Senate trial rules

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the first amendment to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed rules for the Senate impeachment trial will be one to subpoena White House documents.

“Immediately after Leader McConnell introduces his resolution, I will be offering amendments to fix its many flaws. The first amendment I will offer will ask that the senate subpoena White House documents related to the charges against the President,” Schumer said.
He did not say how many other amendments he’ll offer — but said there will be a “series” of them.

“I will then offer a series of amendments on the documents we requested, the witnesses we requested, and amendments to fix the most egregious departure that McConnell made in his resolution from the Clinton rules,” he said.

• Schumer: “If the President is so confident in his case, then why won’t he present it in broad daylight?”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plan to have the trial’s opening arguments go into the wee hours of the night, asking, “If the President is so confident in his case, then why won’t he present it in broad daylight?”

“The McConnell resolution will result in a rushed trial with little evidence in the dead of night,” Schumer said. “If the President is so confident in his case, then why won’t he present it in broad daylight? If Leader McConnell and the Republican senators who have said ‘he’s done nothing wrong, it’s perfect,’ why not while the sun is shining? Instead of at 2:00 a.m.? Well, it’s pretty obvious. Pretty obvious why not.”
Schumer said that if McConnell’s rules are adopted, it will be a “dark day” for the Senate.

“On something as important as impeachment, McConnell’s resolution is nothing short of a national disgrace. And it will go down in history as one of the very dark days of the Senate,” he said.

About McConnell’s planned rules: Yesterday, McConnell unveiled a trial plan that would give each side 24 hours over two days to present their side. The trial is expected to begin at 1 p.m. ET each day — meaning arguments could go until 1 a.m. ET, or later if there are breaks.

• Schumer: McConnell rules “seem to be designed by President Trump”

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “the McConnell rules seem to be designed by President Trump, for President Trump.”

He added: “Simply executed by Leader McConnell and senate Republicans. It appears that Leader McConnell decided to go along with the President’s desire to cover-up his wrongdoing, hook, line and sinker.”

• Schumer is speaking: “If proved, the President’s actions are crimes against democracy itself”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is now addressing reporters.

He opened the news conference by talking about health care — but quickly pivoted to the impeachment process.

“Now, let’s get to the issue at hand. As you all know, President Trump is accused of coercing a foreign leader into interfering in our elections to benefit himself. And then doing everything in his power to cover it up,” he said.

“If proved, the President’s actions are crimes against democracy itself,” he added.

• House managers are huddling in Pelosi’s office right now

The House impeachment managers are now huddling in Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office.

The managers just finished a press conference where they slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed resolution for how the trial will proceed.

Here’s a look at McConnell’s proposed schedule — and how it compares to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial:

• Schiff: “What’s going on here really is a cover-up of evidence to the American people”

House impeachment manager Adam Schiff criticized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed trial rules, which call for each side to make opening arguments over the course of two days — meaning the trial could go past 1 a.m. ET each day.

He slammed the resolution’s provision that additional documents will only get a vote on whether to be admitted after the opening statements and questions from senators.

“And so, you know, I do think that by structuring the trial this way, it furthers our case that what’s going on here really is a cover-up of evidence to the American people,” he said.