Impeachment: GOP leaders reportedly say they lack votes to block witnesses – as it happened

Live US politics reporting continues on Wednesday’s blog:

The question of whether or not the Senate will consider additional evidence and testimony loom over the impeachment trial, now that the president’s defense team has concluded its opening arguments.

Read the key takeaways from today:

FOIA reveals Rick Perry’s talking points for Zelenskiy inauguration

A watchdog group’s FOIA request to the Energy Department yielded emails, messages, and notes as well as the talking point that former energy secretary Rick Perry took to attend the inauguration of Ukrainian president Vlodomry Zelenskiy.

Perry was one of the “three amigos” involved in Ukraine policy, and became a kew figure in the impeachment inquiry against Trump.

As Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders spar on the campaign trail, the former vice president’s campaign maintains that he’s committed to backing the Democratic nominee, whoever it is.

The tension between the former vice president and the progressive Vermont senator has been building as the Iowa caucus approaches next week. Though Biden had previously committed to endorsing the Democratic nominee, “regardless” of who wins the primaries, he appeared to be vacillating on Sanders.

The two have clashed over foreign policy, trade, and social security. Last week, Biden’s campaign released an ad accusing Sanders of negative attacks on the former vice president’s and mischaracterizing his record on social security. Sanders’ campaign lobbed back that it was Biden who was going negative. Sanders did apologize after a supporter’s op-ed in The Guardian called Biden “corrupt”.

The two frontrunners are fighting off Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg ahead of the Iowa caucus.

“I’m not going to make judgments now,” Biden told reporters in Iowa, where he has been campaigning this week. “I just think that it depends upon how we treat one another between now and the time we have a nominee.” The Associated Press and other outlets interpreted this as vacillation.

But Biden’s campaign contested reports that he wouldn’t back the Democratic nominee, whoever it is.

Though Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly told senators privately that he doesn’t have votes to block new witnesses in the impeachment trial, per multiple reports, there are still several days till senators would vote on the matter.

Senate Republicans may still block witnesses, and some GOP lawmakers are confident they’ll be able to do so, according to CNN.

Lev Parnas’ lawyer is expected to attend the Senate trial tomorrow.

Joseph Bondy asked Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer for gallery tickets, according to The Daily Beast, which first reported the news. Bondy’s co-counsel Stephanie Schuman is also expected to appear. Parnas himself may not be able to, as he wears an ankle monitor and electronics are banned in the trial chamber.

Republicans may not have enough votes to block witnesses, and they know it according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Though most Senate Republicans have dismissed the need to call witnesses, a few key members, including Mitt Romney of Utah and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have indicated an openness to hearing new testimony.

Feinstein clarifies her statement: ‘It’s clear the president’s actions were wrong’

An Axios reporter who initially posed a question about acquittal to the senator today further clarified: Feinstein was open to potentially acquitting Donald Trump before, but is less so now.

Is Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein open to acquittal?

After the president’s defense team concluded their arguments today, Feinstein, a Democrat of California, seemed to suggest she’s not entirely opposed to acquittal.

“Nine months left to go, the people should judge. We are a republic, we are based on the will of the people — the people should judge,” Feinstein told the LA Times. “That was my view and it still is my view.”

Per the LA Times:

Still, she indicated that arguments in the trial about Trump’s character and fitness for office had left her undecided. “What changed my opinion as this went on,” she said, is a realization that “impeachment isn’t about one offense. It’s really about the character and ability and physical and mental fitness of the individual to serve the people, not themselves.”

Asked whether she would ultimately vote to acquit, she demurred, saying, “We’re not finished.”

At 86, Feinstein is the oldest member of the Senate. She’s expected to retire after she completes the remaining four years of her term — so she doesn’t necessarily need to consider how going against the grain will affect her chances of reelection in Blue-state California.

Joe Manchin of West Virginia is the only other Senate Democrat whose vote to remove Trump from office isn’t assured. On Fox News, he said, “I am totally undecided,” on how he’ll vote.

Speaking to CNN, Jared Kushner, the president’s adviser and son-in-law who spearheaded the crafting of the administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal, warned Palestinians against rejecting the deal.

“The Palestinian leadership have to ask themselves a question: do they want to have a state? Do they want to have a better life?” Kushner said.

He then presented an ultimatum to the Palestinians. Kushner said, “If they do, we have created a framework for them to have it, and we’re going to treat them in a very respectful manner. If they don’t, then they’re going to screw up another opportunity, like they’ve screwed up every other opportunity that they’ve ever had in their existence.”

But the Palestinian president has already rejected any possibility of agreeing to the White House’s proposal.

“We say a thousand times, no, no, no to the deal of the century,” Mahmoud Abbas said. “We rejected this deal from the start and our stance was correct.”

Echoing her earlier comments, Republican senator Susan Collins told CBS News that she is “very likely” to support calling witnesses for the impeachment trial.

Collins said she and her Republican colleagues have had “a lot more conversations” about witness testimony since the publications of the report about John Bolton’s book, which reportedly includes an allegation that Trump directly tied Ukraine’s military assistance to investigations of Democrats.

Asked whether they were four Republicans who would support calling witnesses, Collins said, “I don’t know the answer to that question yet.”

But she added, “I, for one, believe that there’s some gaps, some ambiguities that need to be cleared up, and more information tends to be helpful when you’re making such a weighty decision.”

Exiting a meeting with fellow Republican senators, John Cornyn said the caucus had not reached a decision on calling witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial.

Three-quarters of registered voters support calling witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial, according to a newly released poll.

The Quinnipiac survey found that 75% of voters are in favor of calling witnesses in the Senate trial, a figure that includes 49% of Republicans and 75% of independents.

On the question of whether Trump should be removed from office, voters remain divided, with 48% opposing removal and 47% supporting it.

But a majority of voters, 53%, say Trump is not telling the truth about his actions toward Ukraine, and 57% say they would like the president to provide more details about those interactions.

Angus King, an indpendent senator who caucuses with the Democrats, has downgraded his prediction for how many Republican senators will support calling new witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial.

King said yesterday that he thought Democrats would win over more than four Republicans, which is the minimum needed to get the proposal approved. “I think there’ll be more than four,” King told NPR. “My bold prediction is there’ll be five or 10.”

But speaking to CNN just now, King adjusted that estimate, calling it “naive.” “I think it’s going to be really close,” King said of the vote on witnesses.

Lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff stressed that senators needed to hear from John Bolton, whose book about his time in the Trump administration will be published in March.

“Are we really going to require the country to wait until his book comes out to find out information the senators could use?” Schiff asked.

The lead impeachment manager was also asked about the possibility that he could be called to testify if the Senate approves calling new witnesses.

“I can tell you what my testimony is,” Schiff replied. “He’s guilty, and he should be impeached.”

During the brief recess before Trump’s lawyers concluded their opening arguments, Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski were seen chatting on the floor.

Collins and Murkowski, along with Mitt Romney, are considered the most likely Republican senators to support Democrats’ demand for new witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial.

After chatting with Murkowski, Collins delviered an envelope to impeachment manager Jerry Nadler, who missed yesterday’s proceedings because his wife has been diagnosed with pancreativ cancer.

The impeachment trial has resumed, and White House counsel Pat Cipollone is now delivering the final presentation for the Trump team’s opening arguments.

“All you need in this case is the Constitution and your common sense,” Cipollone said.

The White House counsel then played a series of clips from Democratic lawmakers, some of whom are now impeachment managers and senators, criticzing the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

“You were right,” Cipollone said of the Democrats’ warnings about misusing impeachment as a political weapon. “But I’m sorry to say you were also prophetic.”

Even though the Senate impeachment trial will continue tomorrow, Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar has scheduled a quick trip to Iowa tonight.

The Minnsota senator’s camapign announced she will appear at a campaign event in Council Bluffs tonight, with just six days to go until the Iowa caucuses.

The four senators running for president -- Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Klobuchar and Michael Bennet -- have had to severely restrict their Iowa appearances in the final days before the caucuses because of the impeachment trial.

Some of their opponents, including Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, have sought to capitalize on their absence by hosting a number of events across the street over the past week.

Jay Sekulow has concluded his presentation, arguing Trump’s impeachment represented a partisan dispute over policy differences.

“The bar for impeachment cannot be set this low,” Sekulow warned as he finished his representation.

Once Sekulow stepped away from the podium, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell called for a 15-minute recess.

Trump’s lawyers have said they will deliver one more presentation after the break before resting their case for now.

Lindsey Graham, one of the president’s closest Senate allies, proposed earlier today that the manuscript of John Bolton’s book be made available to senators in a “classified setting.”

But Jay Sekulow, a member of Trump’s legal team, has just said Bolton’s book should be considered “inadmissible” because it includes an “unsourced allegation.”

If the president echoes that line of argument, it could scare Republican senators away from supporting a review of the manuscript, let alone calling Bolton as a witness in the trial.

Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s lawyers, is currently delivering a presentation that could be described as an airing of the president’s grievances dating back to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller in 2017.

Sekulow criticized Mueller’s handling of the investigation and pointed to the anti-Trump text messages exchanged between former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page as evidence of the bureau’s allegedly unfair treatment of the president.

“You can’t view this case in a vaccuum,” Sekulow argued, going on to criticize House Democrats for trying to impeach a president in an election year.

Deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin is now delivering the first of three presentations today from Trump’s lawyers.

Philbin dismissed any notion that administration officials’ decision to move the transcript of Trump’s July call with the Ukrainian president to a more secure server represented a “cover-up.”

Philbin said the move of the transcript, which former national security officials have described as highly unusual, was not done out of any kind of malicious intent.

Opening today’s proceedings with a prayer, Senate chaplain Barry Black expressed hope that the impeachment trial would not further divide the country.

“Lord, grant that this impeachment trial will make our nation stronger, wiser and better,” Black said.

The Senate chaplain’s prayers throughout the trial seem to have been laden with meaning for the senators. Last week, Black reminded the senators acting as jurors in the trial that “listening is often more than hearing.”

Trump’s lawyers have 15 hours and 33 minutes to conclude their opening arguments, but Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts noted it would not be possible to use their full remaining time.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone quickly confirmed the president’s team does not intend to use much of their remaining time today, with the goal of wrapping up “by dinner time or well before.”

Cipollone said Trump’s lawyers had planned three more presentations, with a brief break in between, before resting their case for now.

Here’s the video of Trump saying secretary of state Mike Pompeo “did a good job” on NPR reporter Marie Louise Kelly, who was reportedly berated by Pompeo after she asked him pressing questions about his refusal to defend former US ambassador to Ukraine Maria Yovanovitch:

The audience gathered at the White House for the announcement of the Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal laughed at this line.

Trump then added to Pompeo, “Are you running for Senate? I guess the answer is no, after that.”

A number of reporters pointed out that Trump’s comments about the future of Jerusalem appeared to contradict each other.

Trump said Jerusalem would remain Israel’s “undivided capital,” but he then said that his administration’s proposal would “provide a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem where America will proudly open an embassy.”

A former US ambassador to Israel under Barack Obama said this of the plan:

Trump is apparently aware of Palestinian officials’ opposition to his administration’s proposal because he said at the White House that the plan includes “a lot for the Palestinians.”

The US president argued the proposal “wouldn’t be fair” if it did not include concessions to the Palestinians, but he told the audience gathered at the White House, “Don’t clap for that.”

Clearly trying to put pressure on the Palestinians, Trump said the plan represented a “historic opportunity” for Palestinians to ensure the creation of an independent state.

Apparently trying to sound like a tough-talking negotiator, Trump also warned the Palestinians that another deal might not come around again. “We’ll never have a team like we have right now,” Trump said.

Trump will soon appear at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to unveil the administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, even though the proposal faces little chance of success.

The New York Times reports:

President Trump will release a long-awaited Middle East peace plan on Tuesday that is expected to include a proposal for new Israeli borders and provide for Israeli sovereignty over much of the Jordan Valley, a strategic area on the eastern frontier of the West Bank abutting Jordan. ...

Palestinian leaders, who no longer speak to Trump officials, are likely to oppose each of those elements, even if they are combined with the economic rewards of $50 billion or more that the Trump administration says it can deliver.

That is why many analysts say the plan, developed under the supervision of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, is relevant mainly for its potential effect on Israel’s March 2 election, which is likely to decide the fate of the embattled Mr. Netanyahu, and as a distraction from the Senate’s impeachment trial of Mr. Trump.

Republican senator Joni Ernst is pushing back against Joe Biden after the Democratic presidential candidate pointed to her comments about the impeachment trial to argue Trump and his allies were trying to hurt his chances at the nomination.

“Iowa caucuses are this next Monday evening,” Ernst said yesterday. “And I’m really interested to see how this discussion today informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters, those Democratic caucus-goers. Will they be supporting Vice President Biden at this point? Not certain about that.”

Biden then tweeted out a video of Ernst’s comments, saying it showed Republicans are “scared to death I’ll be the nominee.”

But Ernst is now claiming her initial comments were only meant to highlight Biden’s past corruption, even though Ukrainian officials have confirmed the allegations against Biden are unfounded.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer described Republicans’ demands to have Hunter Biden as a “diversion” meant to deflect attention away from the allegations against Trump.

“What can Hunter Biden tell us about the president’s conduct with Ukraine?” Schumer asked. “What can Hunter Biden tell us about the president’s obstruction of Congress? Nothing obviously.”

Schumer argued Republicans’ insistence that Biden testify proved “they have no one to defend the president on the merits.”

Reports emerged last week that Democratic and Republican senators were considering a “witness swap” to allow Trump officials like Bolton and the Bidens to testify, but Schumer then said the proposal was “off the table.”

As senators wrestle with the question of whether to allow new witness testimony in the impeachment trial, Trump is busy chastizing Fox News for interviewing Democratic lawmakers.

This is not a new complaint from Trump. Since the House formally launched the impeachment inquiry, the president has repeatedly lashed out against Fox for allowing Democrats on to the network.

He has also previously lashed out against hosts who have criticized him -- including Shep Smith, who left the network in October. Despite the president’s complaints, Fox saw its most successful year ever in 2019.

The real question regarding Lindsey Graham’s proposal to make John Bolton’s manuscript available to senators is how it will affect witness testimony.

Democrats have been pushing Republicans to support allowing new witness testimony in the impeachment trial, and they need at least four of their colleagues to cross party lines to get the proposal approved.

But that mission could become more complicated if Bolton’s manuscript is made available because Republicans who are wary about allowing new witness testimony could point to Graham’s proposal as cover for opposing Democrats’ proposal.

After Lindsey Graham proposed making John Bolton’s manuscript available to senators in a “classified setting,” a number of reporters quickly noted the book is set for publication on March 17, raising serious questions about the necessity of its classification.

Joe Biden jumped on comments made yesterday by Republican senator Joni Ernst to make the argument that Trump and his allies are trying to use the impeachment trial to hurt his chances at winning the Democratic presidential nomination.

“Iowa caucuses are this next Monday evening,” Ernst, who faces her own reelection in Iowa this year, said at the Capitol yesterday. “And I’m really interested to see how this discussion today informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters, those Democratic caucus-goers. Will they be supporting Vice President Biden at this point? Not certain about that.”

Biden tweeted out the video hours later, saying it showed Republicans are “scared to death I’ll be the nominee.”

Presenting their opening arguments yesterday, Trump’s lawyers defended the president’s actions toward Ukraine by repeating unfounded corruption claims against Biden and his son, Hunter.

“Why do they want to pay him millions of dollars?” lawyer Eric Herschmann asked of Hunter Biden’s business activities in Ukraine.

“Well, he did have one qualification, he was a son of the vice president of the United States. He was the son of the man in charge of the Ukrainian portfolio for the prior administration and we are to believe there is nothing to see here, that for anyone to investigate or inquire about this would be a sham.”

The White House has weighed in on the UK’s decision to allow the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to build parts of the country’s 5G network.

“The United States is disappointed by the UK’s decision,” an unnamed administration official said in a statement. “There is no safe option for untrusted vendors to control any part of a 5G network.”

Trump had blacklisted Huawei from involvement in the US 5G network and encouraged allies to follow suit.

“We continue to urge all countries to carefully assess the long-term national security and economic impacts of allowing untrusted vendors access to important 5G network infrastructure,” the administration official said.

“We look forward to working with the UK on a way forward that results in the exclusion of untrusted vendor components from 5G networks.”

In some non-impeachment news, US lawmakers expressed criticism and disappointment after the UK announced it would allow the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to build parts of the country’s 5G network.

The announcement comes fter Trump blocked Huawei from US 5G networks and urged allies to do the same.

The Guardian’s Heather Stewart and Dan Sabbagh report:

The Chinese tech firm Huawei has been designated a ‘high-risk vendor’ but will be given the opportunity to build non-core elements of Britain’s 5G network, the government has announced.

The company will be banned from the ‘core’, of the 5G network, and from operating at sensitive sites such as nuclear and military facilities, and its share of the market will be capped at 35%.

‘We are clear-eyed about the challenge posed by Huawei, which we today confirm is a high-risk vendor,’ said a Whitehall source.

Republican lawmakers criticized the UK for not following Trump’s lead on Huawei:

But Democrats argued UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to ignore Trump’s advice underscored the declining global influence of the US, which they blamed on the current president: