Senate impeachment trial begins this week

WASHINGTON — The ceremonial ritual of the Senate impeachment trial opening now completed, Republicans and Democrats will begin the unpredictable process of weighing the evidence against President Donald Trump this week.

The Senate will return as an impeachment court on Tuesday, when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is expected to introduce a resolution on the guidelines of the trial. Battles are expected over the rules of the trial and the issue of whether witnesses will be called to testify.

The House impeached Trump with two articles, one charging him with abuse of power, the other alleging obstruction of Congress. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., didn’t transmit the articles, approved on Dec. 18, until this week.

“The House’s hour is over,” McConnell said Friday. “The Senate’s time is at hand.”

The largest battle in the Senate concerns witnesses.

Some Republicans have agreed with Democrats that witnesses should testify, but it remains unclear whether that will include those called by the president’s lawyers.

And there are Republicans who want to dismiss the charges against the president outright, something that McConnell said the majority of the Republican conference would not support.

Still, the rules will determine the length of the impeachment trial, only the third in U.S. history and one that could last more than five weeks.

“It’s something we haven’t sat through very often,” said freshman Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., explaining to reporters the unknown about what lies ahead.

“We’re here until we arrive at a verdict.”

Braun also offered up advice for the coming weeks.

“Be careful how much you drink before you sit in a chair for three hours,” he said.

Calls for witnesses

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., a former state attorney general, is focused on a trial that presents all facts, according to a statement released from her office.

“As information about the president’s actions continues to emerge, she supports bringing forward all relevant witnesses and evidence,” according to the statement.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., told the Review-Journal recently that she would remain open to facts presented in the case and was prepared to do her “homework” as evidence was brought to the Senate.

Opening arguments are expected when the Senate returns Tuesday and Democrats lay out their case that Trump abused his power by asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to launch an investigation into Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden, over Hunter Biden’s seat on a Ukrainian gas company board.

As the president made his request, the Trump administration withheld nearly $400 million in military aid designated for the country and its efforts to fight Russian-backed separatists.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing. He called the impeachment a “hoax” and claimed he has been impeached for a “perfect call.” His defenders have said asking for an investigation into alleged corruption in Ukraine was legitimate. And the 67-vote threshold required to convict Trump in the Senate and remove him from office, as of now, is unreachable.

Star power

Heading into the trial, the president has added star power to his defense team.

In addition to personal lawyers Jay Sekulow and White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Trump has added retired Harvard Law School constitutional law professor Alan Dershowitz and former independent counsel Ken Starr, according to The Associated Press.

The defense team has a Monday deadline to file a brief in the case. House impeachment managers will have until Tuesday morning to respond.

Witnesses in the House proceeding testified that the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, headed a shadow operation in Ukraine seeking political investigations that would help the Trump re-election bid. After the articles were passed, an associate of Giuliani’s, Lev Parnas, turned over documents that show Trump was aware of efforts to sway Ukraine to announce a probe of Biden.

Parnas also disclosed the surveillance of U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who was ultimately fired from that job.

The president’s allies question the credibility of Parnas, a Florida businessman facing federal campaign finance and other charges who was arrested in October at Dulles International Airport with a one-way ticket to Frankfurt, Germany.

Democrats have ramped up demands that additional evidence is required to review the House case for impeachment. Former national security adviser John Bolton, who was highly critical of Giuliani’s actions in Ukraine, refused to testify before the House, but said he’d testify under subpoena in the Senate.

Also last week, the Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan auditing arm of Congress, found that Trump violated the law when he withheld nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine.

The White House Office of Management and Budget disagreed with the GAO opinion, saying the president acted within the law to ensure that funds were being spent on policy priorities.

The four witnesses Senate Democrats want to testify include Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.