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Maanvi Singh in San Francisco (now), Joan E Greve in Washington (earlier) and Paul Owen (earlier)

Trump impeachment trial: senators vote against calling witnesses, paving way for acquittal – as it happened

Live political reporting continues in Monday’s blog:

Summary

  • Senators defeated a proposal to hear witnesses in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Only two Republicans — Mitt Romney and Susan Collins — voted with Democrats to consider additional evidence.
  • Senate leaders negotiated a deal to hear closing arguments on Monday and take a final vote on acquittal on Wednesday.
  • Senate Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly called the president before finalizing the plan.
  • House Leader Nancy Pelosi said Republicans who voted against hearing testimony are “accomplices to the president’s cover-up”.
  • The Trump administration announced plans to expand its controversial travel ban to six additional countries.
  • The administration declared a public health emergency over the coronavirus outbreak and announced it will temporarily bar people traveling from China to the US, unless they are American or immediately related to US citizens.

Updated

As they headed out for the weekend, Democratic senators representing swing states indicated they’re still weighing whether or not to acquit Donald Trump on Wednesday.

“I swear to God I won’t know until I walk in,” said Joe Manchin, a Democratic senator of West Virginia. He’s “back and forth”, he said.

Senator Doug Jones, a Democrat of Alabama is also mulling. “I’m still working on all of that,” he said.

Updated

What’s next?

The U.S. Capitol tonight.
The U.S. Capitol tonight. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Monday

The Senate convenes at 11am with the chief justice, John Roberts, presiding. The prosecutors in the case, known as House managers, will make closing arguments, to be followed by Trump’s defense, with two hours allotted to each side.

The Senate would adjourn as a court of impeachment until Wednesday.

Tuesday

Speeches by the senators. For the first time in two weeks, Roberts will not be on hand.

The president will deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday night without the trial having concluded, a scenario he had hoped to avoid. But Trump’s acquittal does not seem in doubt.

Wednesday

The Senate holds two afternoon votes, at 4pm, one on each article of impeachment. If a majority of senators votes to acquit Trump in each case – and any other result would be shocking – Trump is acquitted and he remains in office.

With that, the impeachment process would be concluded. Trump would become the third president in US history to be impeached and then to escape removal at trial.

Senator Lisa Murkowski told reporters she’s “just gonna chill” after a dramatic day at the Capitol.

Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska who was initially undecided on the question of witnesses, announced this morning that she’d be voting against considering new testimony and dashed any hopes that Democrats could secure the votes needed to subpoena John Bolton and other officials who might deliver damning new evidence in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

Asked by reporters whether she’ll vote to remove Trump from office, Murkowski responded: “I’ve had so much drama today, I’m just gonna chill.”

“I’m at that point where I’m frustrated and disappointed and angry at all sides,” she added.

Updated

Having breezed through the Democrats’ amendments, the Senators are clearing out and Republicans have claimed victory.

Updated

Senate leader Mitch McConnell reportedly ran his plan for the final days of the impeachment trial by the president, according to multiple reports.

Both CNN and the New York Times are reporting that McConnell called Donald Trump and got the president’s approval before presenting it to Senators for a vote. The Guardian has not independently confirmed these reports.

Updated

Rules for deliberating and voting on articles of impeachment approved

The rules were approved, 53-47 along party lines, as proposed by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The trial is adjourned until 11am ET, on Monday February 3.

Updated

Senators have voted to kill two more amendments proposed by the Democrats.

The third amendment to subpoena John Bolton, spend one day on his deposition and one day on live testimony — both of which must occur within five days — was defeated 51-49, with Republicans Romney and Collins voting with the Democrats.

And the fourth amendment, from Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, to require the Chief Justice to rule on motions to subpoena witnesses and documents was also voted down, 53-47 along party lines.

The Senate is now voting on the rules for deliberating and voting on the articles of impeachments.

Updated

Nancy Pelosi: 'Republicans are 'accomplices to the President’s cover-up'

Nancy Pelosi called Republicans ‘accomplices to the President’s cover-up’.
Nancy Pelosi called Republicans ‘accomplices to the President’s cover-up’. Photograph: Michael Brochstein/Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media

The House leader, who opened and oversaw the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump, has delivered a harsh rebuke to the Senators who voted against hearing witnesses and considering new evidence.

“The Senate Republicans’ vote against calling witnesses and compelling documents in the impeachment proceedings makes them accomplices to the president’s cover-up,” Pelosi said.

“It is a sad day for America to see Senator McConnell require the chief justice of the United States to preside over a vote which rejected our nation’s judicial norms, precedents and institutions to uphold the constitution and the rule of law,” she said in a statement.

Even if Trump is acquitted, she said, “he is impeached forever”.

“There can be no acquittal without a trial,” she said. “ And there is no trial without witnesses, documents and evidence.”

Updated

Chuck Schumer’s second amendment, to subpoena former national security adviser John Bolton, whose unpublished book reportedly contains shocking allegations that Donald Trump directly oversaw a pressure campaign in Ukraine.

Senators voted it down, once again along on party line, though this time Republican senators Mitt Romney and Susan Collins voted with the 47 Democrats.

The remaining two documents are also efforts to subpoena additional evidence and are also likely to be voted down.

Updated

Senators have swiftly moved to vote on Chuck Schumer’s first of four anticipated amendments, to subpoena Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton, Michael Duffey and Robert Blair as well as documents from White House, OMB and the Defense and State Department.

The amendment was defeated by a party-line, 53-47.

Updated

The Chief Justice John Roberts said it would be “inappropriate for me, an unelected official from a different branch of government” to break a 50-50 tie. If senators tie on any votes, the motion will fail, Roberts said.

Roberts was responding to a question from the minority leader Chuck Schumer, who pointed out that the supreme court justice presiding over the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson broke two ties.

“I do not regard those isolated episodes 150 years ago as sufficient to support a general authority to break ties,” Roberts responded.

Updated

The Senate is back in session, to consider Democratic amendments

Democrats will offer several amendments to the majority leader Mitch McConnell’s resolution on how the trial will end.

Updated

Senators will vote Wednesday on whether to acquit Donald Trump

In a statement, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that a vote on whether to acquit Trump will happen on Wednesday, Feb 5th at 4pm ET.

“Sen. McConnell and Republicans water to rush through an acquittal vote tonight. But Democrats wanted votes and witnesses and documents, for the House Managers to be able to make closing arguments, ample time for every member to speak, and to prevent GOP from rushing this through,” he said.

He continued: “Democrats will still oppose this McConnell resolution as it does not include witnesses and documents.”

This will be the first impeachment trial in the history of the Senate to have no witnesses.

Updated

Senator Mitt Romney, one of two Republicans who voted for considering additional witnesses and documents, has been disinvited from the Conservative Political Action Conference in February.

The chair of the American Conservative Union, the group that organizes the annual conference, announced that the Utah senator is no longer welcome.

Even as conservatives piled on, Romney’s fellow senator from Utah, Mike Lee, came to his defense.

Updated

Republican senators Roy Blunt and John Barrasso say a deal has been reached to schedule the acquittal vote for Wednesday. Blunt said it was a “done deal”.

The plan is to consider a few amendments tonight, take the weekend off, hear floor speeches and closing arguments Monday through Wednesday, and take a final vote on Wednesday.

It’ll be a busy week in politics: The Iowa caucuses are on Monday, and Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union speech on Tuesday

Presidential candidates, who’ve been attending the impeachment trial rather than campaigning in Iowa along with their rivals, have reacted to the vote against witnesses.

Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bennet may have to remain at the Capitol as the Iowa caucuses – the first primary election of 2020 – kicks off on Monday. They don’t necessarily have to attend all the proceedings, so they could ostensibly pop over to Iowa for part of the day, as long as they return in time for closing arguments and the acquittal vote.

Updated

A countdown clock is illuminated at 10 Downing Street on Brexit day in London.
A countdown clock is illuminated at 10 Downing Street on Brexit day in London. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Moments ago, the UK officially left the European Union. Follow the Guardian’s live updates, from my colleagues across the the Atlantic.

Updated

Hillary Clinton weighs in: “Republican senators have put the interests of one president over the interests of all Americans.”

Senate leader announces the trial will conclude 'in the coming days'

Mitch McConnell leaves the chamber after the vote on the motion to allow additional witnesses.
Mitch McConnell leaves the chamber after the vote on the motion to allow additional witnesses. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

The Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, said in a statement: “Senators will now confer among ourselves, with the House managers, and with the president’s counsel to determine next steps as we prepare to conclude the trial in the coming days.”

“There is no need for the Senate to re-open the investigation which the House Democratic majority chose to conclude and which the managers themselves continue to describe as ‘overwhelming’ and ‘beyond any doubt’,” McConnell said.

Democrats and Republicans are now gathering, separately, to strategize next steps.

Reflecting on the vote against hearing witnesses, the minority leader Chuck Schumer lamented, “It’s a perfidy.”

“It’s a grand tragedy, one of the worst tragedies that the Senate has ever overcome,” he said. “I will be now going up to my caucus to discuss what we’re doing next.”

Updated

Senate votes against calling additional witnesses

The senators cast their votes by roll call, with everyone voting as expected. The Senate voted 51-49 against calling additional documents and witnesses in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

The Democrats and two Republicans – Mitt Romney and Susan Collins – voted to hear additional testimony. The remaining Republicans voted against the motion.

The vote came after four hours of debate. “The facts will come out – in all of their horror, they will come out,” the House manager Adam Schiff, in a last appeal to Republican senators who planned to vote against the motion. “The witnesses the president is concealing will tell their stories.”

The president’s legal defense pushed back against having the Senate do “investigatory work that the House didn’t”.

Senators will now be taking a recess for an undefined amount of time.

Updated

Voting on witnesses is underway... stay tuned.

Moments ago, the Senate leader Mitch McConnell announced he had reached an agreement with the minority leader Chuck Schumer to vote on the witness question and then take a recess.

Updated

Marie Yovanovitch testified during the House intelligence hearing on the impeachment inquiry.
Marie Yovanovitch testified during the House intelligence hearing on the impeachment inquiry. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine who was a key witness in the impeachment inquiry, has retired from the state department, according to NPR.

Yovanovitch testified that she was abruptly removed from her post in Ukraine after coming under attack from the president’s personal lawyer Rudy Guiliani. She was recalled based on “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives”, she said in her testimony to Congress. A recording from 2018, released last week, seemed to catch Donald Trump asking associates to “get rid” of her.

Updated

Senators are continuing to huddle in groups, with Democrats and Republicans grouping together to discuss plans. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat of Arizona, was seen speaking with Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah. Chief Justice John Roberts spoke with Democratic senators Michael Bennet and Richard Blumenthal.

And off to one corner, Senate leader Mitch McConnell convened with GOP senators John Thune (the majority whip), John Barrasso (Republican Conference chair), John Cornyn, Lamar Alexander, Ted Cruz, and Todd Young.

Updated

Senators are huddling on the floor, and both Republican and Democratic leaders appear to be negotiating a plan for how and when the trial will end.

Senate leader Mitch McConnell and Minority leader Chuck Schumer appear to be having a serious discussion, along with their top aides, possibly about what to do next.

Lawmakers may consider pushing the final acquittal of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial until next week, per multiple reports. Delaying the final vote would give each side more time to debate the charges against Trump.

In his unpublished book, former national security adviser reportedly wrote that Trump asked him to help pressure Ukraine for damning evidence against the Democrats and gave the instruction in a meeting that included White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, the president’s lawyer Rudolph Giuliani, and the White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who has lead Trump’s impeachment defense.

Updated

Evening summary

The senators are about to take the crucial vote on witness testimony in the impeachment trial, which is expected to fail. I’m handing the blog over to my west coast colleague Maanvi Singh.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Republican senator Lisa Murkowski said she would vote against calling witnesses, virtually guaranteeing the Democratic proposal would fail.
  • Several Republican senators said they would vote to acquit Trump even though they acknowledged his actions toward Ukraine were “inappropriate” and “wrong.”
  • Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and minority leader Chuck Schumer appear to have reached a deal that would set up a final vote on acquittal for Wednesday.
  • The Trump administration announced plans to expand its controversial travel ban to six additional countries.
  • Health and human services secretary Alexander Azar declared coronvirus to be a public health emergency and announced plans to temporarily block foreign nationals who pose a threat of transmission from entering the country.

Maanvi will provide updates on the witness vote once it gets underway, so stay tuned.

Lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff has finished speaking, concluding the debate on witnesses.

The Senate now appears to be taking a quorum call, as majority leader Mitch McConnell and minority leader Chuck Schumer chat on the floor.

Lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff said Trump’s legal team was abiding by “the Dershowitz principle”, referring to one of the president’s lawyers.

Alan Dershowitz argued earlier this week that Trump was acting in the public interest by pushing for Ukrainian investigations of Democrats because the president considers his reelection to be in the public interest, a point that Dershowitz later walked back.

Schiff summarized the position of the president’s team in this way: “What’s the point of calling witnesses if the president can do whatever he wants under Article II?”

Updated

Trump’s legal team has concluded speaking for now, and the impeachment managers have 30 minutes to finish their arguments on calling witnesses.

While Jay Sekulow was wrapping up for the president’s team, Trump sent this tweet accusing Democrats of “scamming America.”

US declares coronavirus to be a public health emergency

In other non-impeachment news, health and human services secretary Alexander Azar announced at the White House that coronavirus is now a public health emergency.

Azar said US citizens returning from China, where the outbreak began, would be subject to “proactive entry health screening” and up to 14 days of “monitored self-quarantine.”

Starting tomorrow, flights from the US to China will also be “funneled” to seven major airports, and foreign nationals who pose a risk of transmission can be blocked from entering the country.

Updated

Trump administration to expand travel ban

As the impeachment trial nears its end, the Trump administration continues to carry out its aggressive immigration agenda, now announcing plans to expand its controversial travel ban.

Reuters reports:

The United States will suspend the issuance of visas that can lead to permanent residency for nationals of Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Nigeria, the acting homeland security secretary, Chad Wolf, said during a call with reporters on Friday. The targeted immigrant visas are distinct from non-immigrant visas typically issued to visitors, which will not be affected by the ban, Wolf said.

The US government will also stop issuing ‘diversity visas’ to nationals of Sudan and Tanzania, Wolf said. The visas – which Trump has criticized in the past – are available by lottery for applicants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.

Wolf said the six countries failed to meet US security and information-sharing standards, which necessitated the new restrictions. The problems Wolf cited ranged from sub-par passport technology to a failure to sufficiently exchange information on terrorism suspects and criminals.

The impeachment trial has resumed, and Trump’s legal team will now have two hours to address the debate over calling witnesses to testify in the trial.

Deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin has taken the podium to argue against witnesses, claiming the senators have heard enough testimony from the officials who participated in the public hearings of the House impeachment inquiry.

Updated

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell was hosting some of his Republican colleagues in his office during the break, likely working through the logistics of the trial’s conclusion, but he is now headed back to the chamber.

Michael Bloomberg’s campaign released a statement celebrating the new qualification requirements for the Feb. 19 debate, which could allow the billionaire presidential candidate to participate in the event.

“We are thrilled that voters could soon have the chance to see Mike Bloomberg on the debate stage, hear his vision for the country, and see why he is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump and bring our country together,” said campaign manager Kevin Sheekey.

“Mike has run for office three times and never taken a dime from special interests, allowing him to act independently, on the merits, without having to do what donors expect. He is proud to be doing the same with this campaign.”

But some of the other Democratic presidential candidates are criticizing the new requirements, accusing the Democratic National Committee of bending the rules to benefit Bloomberg.

It appears the proposal for the conclusion of the impeachment trial would include a weekend recess followed by proceedings on Monday and Tuesday, with a final vote on Wednesday.

That proposal could affect the four Democratic senators running for president: Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bennet.

The four candidates had likely planned for the trial to wrap up today or tomorrow, allowing them to be in Iowa for the Monday caucuses. But they may have to stay in Washington if the trial is still going on.

As the impeachment trial remains in recess, here’s a bit of election news: the Democratic National Committee has announced it is changing the qualifying requirements for the Feb. 19 debate. The new qualifications could allow billionaire Michael Bloomberg to participate in the debate.

The AP reports:

The party announced Friday three different ways for candidates to reach the debate stage that involve reaching certain polling thresholds or banking a convention delegate in the first two nominating contests held in Iowa and New Hampshire. All previous debates have included a fundraising element, and since September, candidates have had to reach both polling thresholds and grassroots fundraising marks. Bloomberg, a former New York City mayor, has not yet hit the polling marks, but he will have until Feb. 18, the day before the debate, to do so — a prospect that pleases some rivals and incenses others.

Under the DNC rules, candidates have multiple paths to the stage: reach 10% support in some combination of four national polls or early state polls from Nevada or South Carolina; reach 12% support in two polls from Nevada or South Carolina or both; or bank a convention delegate in Iowa or New Hampshire, which host the first two nominating votes in early February.

The announcement quickly sparked backlash, with Democratic advisers and strategists claiming the change would unfairly benefit Bloomberg.

“Now, at this late hour, to change the rules to accommodate a billionaire who wants to buy his way into the party would be unconscionable,” said Jeff Weaver, a senior adviser to Bernie Sanders. “No one should be allowed to buy their way onto the debate stage or the nomination.”

A former executive director of the congressional progressive caucus argued the change was meant to harm the prospects of tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang:

Lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff has stepped off the floor, and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has called for a 15-minute recess in the trial.

Lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff warned that a dangerous precedent will be set if the impeachment trial does not include witnesses.

Schiff predicted future judges or presidents facing impeachment would cite the trial of Trump to try to block witness testimony, which would “effectively nullify” the congressional power of impeachment.

“Our government is no longer a government with three coequal branches,” Schiff said. “The president ... for all intents and purposes, becomes above the law.”

Schiff also cited John Kelly, Trump’s former White House chief of staff who said an impeachment trial witout witnesses was only “half a trial.” The lead manager said he disagreed with Kelly, adding, “A trial without witnesses is no trial at all.”

Impeachment trial reportedly headed for final vote on Wednesday

Congressional officials told NBC News that Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and minority leader Chuck Schumer have agreed to a proposal that would wrap up the impeachment trial on Wednesday.

If the Senate agrees to this proposal, it would mean Trump will not be acquitted in time for his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

“We’re happy with an acquittal as soon as possible,” a White House official told NBC News. “We sure would like Tuesday, but the Senate can only go as fast as it can.”

John Kelly says trial without witnesses is 'half a trial'

Former White House chief of staff John Kelly has once again weighed in on the impeachment proceedings, saying a trial without witnesses should be considered “half a trial.”

“In my view, they kind of leave themselves open to a lot of criticism,” Kelly told NJ Advance Media. “It seems it was half a trial.”

Kelly attracted headlines earlier this week, when he expressed confidence in John Bolton, who reportedly claims in his forthcoming book that Trump directly tied Ukraine’s military assistance to investigations of Democrats.

“If John Bolton says that in the book, I believe John Bolton,” Kelly said at a Florida event. “Every single time I was with him ... he always gave the president the unvarnished truth.”

The New York Times reported earlier today that Bolton’s book also recounts a May meeting where Trump told the then-national security adviser to help with the pressure campaign on Ukraine.

Republican senators say Trump's actions were wrong but don't merit removal

Senator Rob Portman echoed fellow Republican Marco Rubio in his own statement, claiming that removing Trump from office would only serve to further divide the country, even though the president’s actions were “wrong.”

“I do not believe that additional witnesses are needed,” Portman said. “I have said consistently for the past four months, since the Zelensky transcript was first released, that I believe that some of the president’s actions in this case – including asking a foreign country to investigate a potential political opponent and the delay of aid to Ukraine – were wrong and inappropriate.

“But I do not believe that the president’s actions rise to the level of removing a duly-elected president from office and taking him off the ballot in the middle of an election. ... Our country is already too deeply divided and we should be working to heal wounds, not create new ones. It is better to let the people decide.”

Senator Lamar Alexander, who announced yesterday that he would not support witnesses, said he believed Trump’s “inappropriate” actions fell short of the consitutional standard for removal.

“I agree he did something inappropriate, but I don’t agree he did anything akin to treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors,” Alexander told NPR. “I think there’s a big gap there.”

More Republicans are now releasing statements explaining their votes on witness testimony and Trump’s likely acquittal.

Senator Marco Rubio, one of Trump’s 2016 primary opponents, said in a statement that it was not in the nation’s best interest to remove the president from office, even though his actions were inappropriate.

“Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a President from office,” Rubio said.

“Can anyone doubt that at least half of the country would view his removal as illegitimate — as nothing short of a coup d’état? It is difficult to conceive of any scheme [Vladimir] Putin could undertake that would undermine confidence in our democracy more than removal would.”

Schiff references latest Times report on Bolton

Lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff opened his comments today by referencing the latest New York Times report on John Bolton’s book, which recounts a May meeting during which Trump told the then-national security adviser to help with the pressure campaign on Ukraine.

Bolton reportedly claims the president gave him this directive during a meeting with acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who is currently leading Trump’s defense team.

“There’s a new fact which indicates that Mr. Cipollone was among those who was in the loop,” Schiff said.

The lead manager argued the report underscored the need to call witnesses in the trial, even as it became clear that the witness vote was doomed to fail.

“The facts will come out,” Schiff said. “They will continue to come out, and the question before you today is whether they will come out in time for you to make a complete and informed judgement as to the guilt or innocence of the president.”

Murkowski says 'Congress has failed'

Lisa Murkowski has released a statement explaining her decision to vote against calling witnesses, virtually guaranteeing the failure of the Democratic proposal.

“I carefully considered the need for additional witnesses and documents, to cure the shortcomings of its process, but ultimately decided that I will vote against considering motions to subpoena,” the Republican senator said in the statement.

Murkowski went on to deliver a condemnation of the entire impeachment process and of Congress itself. “I have come to the conclusion that there will be no fair trial in the Senate,” Murkowski said. “I don’t believe the continuation of this process will change anything. It is sad for me to admit that, as an institution, the Congress has failed.”

Murkowski also implictly criticized her Democratic colleague Elizabeth Warren, who asked a question yesterday about whether Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts presiding over the impeachment trial contributed to a “loss of legitimacy” for the highest court.

“Some of my colleagues intend to further politicize this process, and drag the Supreme Court into the fray, while attacking the Chief Justice,” Murkowski said. “I will not stand for nor support that effort.”

Senate chaplain Barry Black had quite a targeted opening prayer for today’s proceedings as the impeachment trial nears an end.

“Lord, help [senators] to remember that they can’t ignore you and get away with it, for we always reap what we sow,” Black said.

Murkowski is a 'no' on witnesses

A spokesperson for Lisa Murkowski has confirmed the Republican senator will vote against witness tesimony in the Senate trial.

With Murkowski joining most of her Republican colleagues, the vote on witnesses is expected to fail by a vote of 49-51.

Impeachment trial resumes

Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts has taken his seat, and the impeachment trial has now officially resumed.

Today’s proceedings are expected to begin with four hours of debate on the Democratic proposal to call witnesses.

Once the debate has concluded, the senators will hold a vote on witness testimony, which is widely expected to fail.

Shots fired after SUV breached Mar-a-Lago security checkpoints

Officials in Florida shot at an SUV that breached security checkpoints heading toward the main entrance of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s resort in Palm Beach.

Two people are reportedly in custody in connection to the incident.

Impeachment manager Jerry Nadler announced he will not be present for today’s proceedings because he has returned to New York as his wife battles pancreatic cancer.

Trump denies Bolton's account of meeting

In a statement to the New York Times, Trump denied that the meeting reportedly desribed by John Bolton in his forthcoming book ever took place.

Bolton has reportedly claimed that Trump told him in early May to work with Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, on the campaign to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and the 2016 election.

But Trump now says the described meeting “never happened.”

When Giuliani was questioned about the meeting described by Bolton, he said the national security adviser was “making some of it up,” but he then added, “I wouldn’t call it making it up.”

Afternoon summary

The impeachment trial will resume in about 30 minutes with four hours of debate on the vote to call witnesses.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • The New York Times reported that John Bolton’s book claims Trump told him to help with the pressure campaign on Ukraine in a May meeting with acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
  • The impeachment trial may now extend into early next week to allow time for closing arguments before the senators hold a final vote on the two articles of impeachment.
  • The vote on witnesses will take place later today and is widely expected to fail after senator Lamar Alexander announced last night that he would vote against the proposal.

The blog will have more coming up soon, so stay tuned.

Before the beginning of last week’s opening arguments in the Senate trial, the impeachment managers raised concerns that White House counsel Pat Cipollone could be a “material witness to the charges in both Articles of Impeachment.”

“You must disclose all facts and information as to which you have first-hand knowledge that will be at issue in connection with evidence you present or arguments you make in your role as the President’s legal advocate so that the Senate and Chief Justice can be apprised of any potential ethical issues, conflicts, or biases,” the managers wrote in a letter to Cipollone.

The White House responded by dismissing the managers as an “utter joke.” “The idea that the Counsel to the President has to turn over protected documents and confidential information is ludicrous, and to imply he can’t represent the President of the United States in an impeachment proceeding is completely absurd,” deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement.

Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, denied that Trump told John Bolton to help with the Ukraine pressure campaign.

According to the New York Times, Giuliani was particularly adamant that Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, and Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, were ever involved in meetings on Ukraine.

“It is absolutely, categorically untrue,” Giuliani told the Times.

Cipollone has led Trump’s legal team during the Senate trial and has repeatedly denied the allegations at the heart of the president’s impeachment.

Updated

Bolton's book reportedly claims Trump sought in his help in Ukraine pressure campaign

The forthcoming book from John Bolton includes a claim that Trump told his then-national security adviser to help with the pressure campaign on Ukraine, according to the New York Times.

The Times reports:

Mr. Trump gave the instruction, Mr. Bolton wrote, during an Oval Office conversation in early May that included the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, the president’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, who is now leading the president’s impeachment defense.

Mr. Trump told Mr. Bolton to call Volodymyr Zelensky, who had recently won election as president of Ukraine, to ensure Mr. Zelensky would meet with Mr. Giuliani, who was planning a trip to Ukraine to discuss the investigations that the president sought, in Mr. Bolton’s account. Mr. Bolton never made the call, he wrote.

The previously undisclosed directive that Mr. Bolton describes would be the earliest known instance of Mr. Trump seeking to harness the power of the United States government to advance his pressure campaign against Ukraine, as he later did on the July call with Mr. Zelensky that triggered a whistle-blower complaint and impeachment proceedings.

The Times has previously reported that Bolton’s book claims Trump directly tied Ukraine’s military assistance to investigations of Democrats, which reinvigorated Democratic demands for administration officials to testify in the impeachment trial.

At least one Senate Republican, Josh Hawley of Missouri, is pushing back against the proposal to extend the impeachment trial through early next week to allow time for closing arguments.

As the impeachment trial appears to be drawing to a close, other congressional investigations of Trump are about to have their day in court.

NBC News is reporting that the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the administration’s challenges to three congressional subpoenas of the president’s financial records on March 31.

The White House has sought to block the subpoeanas from House Democrats, which seek documents from Trump’s accounting firm and two banks with which he has done business.

From the New York Times:

The court’s ruling, expected by June, could require disclosure of information the president has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect. Or the justices could rule that Mr. Trump’s financial affairs are not legitimate subjects of inquiry so long as he remains in office.

Either way, the court is now poised to produce a once-in-a-generation statement on presidential accountability. ...

Mr. Trump asked the court to block three sets of subpoenas, and the justices agreed to decide his appeals in all three.

Cornyn says trial could extend into early next week

At least one Republican senator, John Cornyn of Texas, is now saying that the impeachment trial may extend beyond tonight, even if the vote on witnesses fails.

A senior Trump administration official echoed that prediction to the Washington Post:

The administration official and a congressional official raised the possibility that the Senate could take up a new procedural resolution laying out rules for the trial’s endgame — which could include time for closing arguments, private deliberations and public speeches by senators.

The Senate passed such a supplemental resolution in the middle of the 1999 impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.

Even passing that resolution could be a lengthy process: When senators debated the initial rules resolution last week, it took more than 12 hours of floor time to process debate on Democratic amendments to the GOP proposal, which ultimately passed unamended just before 2 a.m. on Jan. 22.

Should the Senate embark on this process, the senior administration official said, a final verdict could be delayed as late as Wednesday — after the Iowa caucuses on Monday and Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.

If the trial does extend into early next week, it could affect the travel plans of the four Democratic senators who are running for president -- Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bennet.

Schumer says Trump's acquittal will be 'meaningless' without witnesses

Holding a press conference on Capitol Hill, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said Trump’s expected acquittal will be “meaningless” if senators do not vote to call witnesses in the impeachment trial.

“The vote today is about whether the Senate will have a fair trial of the president of the United States,” Schumer said.

The Democratic leader said the result of the vote on witnesses is “still an open question”, although the proposal is widely expected to fail.

Schumer also pointed to Lamar Alexander’s statement last night, in which the Republican senator said he would not vote for witnesses, as evidence that Republicans are aware that Trump is guilty.

Alexander acknowledged in the statement that it was “inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation”.

Schumer warned that, if more evidence is not heard, the impeachment trial will be remembered as the “greatest cover-up since Watergate”.

Updated

Democrat Dick Durbin, the Senate minority whip, predicted tonight’s expected vote on whether to remove Trump from office would go into the “dark of night”.

Updated

Entering the Capitol this morning, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said: “I think we can all agree this is a big day.”

The Kentucky Republican also likely views it as a victorious day, considering the Democratic proposal for witness testimony in the impeachment trial faces little chance of success.

Once the vote on witnesses is held, Senate Democrats will likely try to delay the final vote on the articles of impeachment with procedural motions, which means Trump’s expected acquittal may not come until the early hours of tomorrow morning.

Updated

Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s top Senate allies, praised Lamar Alexander after the Republican senator released a statement saying he would not vote for witness testimony in the impeachment trial.

In his statement last night, Lamar said there was “no need for more evidence” in the trial, noting that the impeachment managers had proven Trump’s actions toward Ukraine were “inappropriate”.

“When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law,” Alexander said. “But the constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate.

“The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did. I believe that the constitution provides that the people should make that decision in the presidential election that begins in Iowa on Monday.”

Updated

As yesterday’s question-and-answer session was concluding, there was an awkward moment where lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff tried to prevent fellow manager Jerry Nadler from delivering the final word.

Chief Justice John Roberts read the final question from Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar, and Nadler then strode to the podium to speak as Schiff tried to get his attention, repeatedly saying his name.

Trump weighed in on the exchange this morning, tweeting: “Nadler ripped final argument away from Schiff, thinks Shifty did a terrible job. They are fighting big time!”

Tension between Nadler and Schiff has been visible at other points in the trial. After Roberts admonished Nadler and one of Trump’s lawyers last week for attacking each other, a reporter tried to ask Nadler a question about the rebuke as the managers held a press conference. Nadler took a half step toward the mic before Schiff cut in: “I’m going to respond to the questions.”

Updated

Even though the impeachment trial is expected to wrap up soon if the witness vote fails, it will likely still be a long night before Trump is acquitted.

If Senate Democrats cannot wrangle enough votes to secure witness testimony in the trial, they are expected to introduce a number of procedural motions to delay the final vote on the two articles of impeachment.

Senators on both sides of the aisle are predicting the vote on acquittal will not take place until the early hours of tomorrow morning.

Romney spokesperson confirms he will vote for witnesses

A spokesperson for Mitt Romney has confirmed the Republican senator intends to vote in favor of calling witnesses in the impeachment trial.

Senate Democrats were already counting Romney as a “yes” vote, given his repeated comments about wanting to hear from administration officials like John Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser.

However, the votes of Romney and Susan Collins, another Republican senator who has said she is in favor of witnesses, are not enough to get the Democratic proposal passed.

If Romney and Collins are the only Republican senators who support calling witnesses, the final vote will likely be 51-49 against witness testimony. If Lisa Murkowski, another closely watched Republican in this vote, joins Romney and Collins, the final vote could be 50-50.

Some Democratic senators have called on Chief Justice John Roberts to break the tie if the vote is 50-50, but it seems unlikely Roberts would take such a step. In that case, a tie vote will be a failed vote, and the trial will move toward a rapid end.

Updated

Here’s the schedule for today’s proceedings

The Senate trial will resume at 1pm ET, and it will kick off with two hours of debate from the impeachment managers and Trump’s legal team.

Senators are then expected to move on to a vote on calling witnesses, which is likely to fail after Republican Lamar Alexander announced last night he would not support the Democratic proposal.

If the witness vote fails, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, could quickly move on to a final vote on the two articles of impeachment, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

It’s very possible that Trump will be acquitted of those charges tonight, more than four months after the House formally launched its impeachment inquiry.

Updated

Sanders tied with Biden in new national poll

A new national poll has found Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden virtually tied in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, with just three days to go until the Iowa caucuses.

According to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Sanders is attracting the support of 27% of Democrats acroos the country, while Biden stands at 26%. This marks the first time in the outlets’ polling that Sanders has led the primary.

Elizabeth Warren is in third place at 15%, and no other candidate makes it into the double digits.

National polls are not very helpful for predicting the winner of the early voting states, but Sanders’ national polling surge comes as a couple of recent surveys have also shown him narrowly pulling ahead in Iowa.

Sanders is also the favorite to win the second voting state, New Hampshire, so the other candidates, namely Biden, will have to find a way to stop Sanders’ momentum if they want a shot at the nomination.

In another reminder of the stark contradictions and departures from past precedent this impeachment hearing has thrown up, lawyers for the Trump administration argued yesterday, in a separate legal proceeding, that a president can be impeached over failure to comply with subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives, reports Oliver Laughland.

Of the two articles of impeachment Donald Trump is currently being tried on, one relates to obstruction of Congress due to his administration’s decision to block witnesses and other evidence requested by the House. Trump’s lawyers have argued repeatedly that the president cannot be impeached over this offense, suggesting the president has a right to protect the executive branch from requests from Congress.

On Thursday, however, during entirely separate legal proceedings, a justice department (DoJ) lawyer argued in federal court that the president could be impeached over ignoring subpoenas. The proceedings related to the administration’s handling of the 2020 census, an issue being probed by the Democratic-controlled House.

In this case, too, the Trump administration is refusing to hand over certain evidence. DoJ lawyer James Burnham told a DC federal judge that while it was the president’s right to ignore the subpoenas, Congress had other powers, including impeachment, to hold the executive to account.

The news travelled to an outraged Adam Schiff, one of the House impeachment managers, on Thursday evening and drew derision and laughter from senators on the jury.

“In the category of you can’t make this stuff up,” Schiff said. “The judge says if the Congress can’t enforce its subpoenas in court, then what remedy is there? And the justice department lawyer’s response is impeachment.”

The justice department later issued a statement, attempting to clarify Burnham’s remarks: “The point we made in court is simply that Congress has numerous political tools it can use in battles with the executive branch – appropriations, legislation, nominations and potentially in some circumstances even impeachment.”

Updated

Wall trouble

A construction crew works on a fallen section of the US-Mexico border wall.
A construction crew works on a fallen section of the US-Mexico border wall. Photograph: STR/AFP via Getty Images

Yesterday we reported that a stretch of Trump’s border wall between the Californian town of Calexico and Mexicali in Mexico had blown over on the Mexican side during high winds.

Today things get worse for the wall, one of the president’s landmark pledges in the 2016 election. The Washington Post reports that US border officials and others say it will probably “require the installation of hundreds of storm gates to prevent flash floods from undermining or knocking it over, gates that must be left open for months every summer during ‘monsoon season’ in the desert”.

“The open, unmanned gates in remote areas already have allowed for the easy entry of smugglers and migrants into the United States,” the paper adds.

You can see a picture of the storm gates in the tweet below:

Updated

Delaney drops out of Dem race with swipe at Sanders

One of the Democratic contenders has dropped out of the primary race ahead of the Iowa caucuses on Monday ... John Delaney, the former Maryland congressman who has been polling at about half a per cent.

He told CNN he was clear he would not have got enough support in Iowa, and warned fellow Democrats against nominating Bernie Sanders, saying the leftwing senator’s policies would make our job “so much harder in terms of beating Donald Trump. And I also think that’s not real governing.”

John Delaney: over and out.
John Delaney: over and out. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP

Updated

The Hill has more on the procedural tactics the Democrats could use to delay the final votes on the articles of impeachment:

In a potential procedural snag, McConnell’s request will be amendable on the floor, meaning Democrats could force vote after vote to try to slow down or delay Trump’s acquittal.

“I suspect the Democrats if they want to can engage in any number of dilatory tactics to drag it out. ... I suspect they’ll want to offer amendments,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican, said of Friday’s schedule.

Democratic senators are reviewing their procedural options for forcing GOP senators to take a round of politically tough votes. Even after it became clear that Republicans had the votes to pass the rules resolution last week, Democrats forced an hours-long fight over amendments.

“We’re looking at all of our parliamentary options to try to force as many votes as we can to put Republicans on the record,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

Who is Lamar Alexander?

Who is Lamar Alexander, the senator who seems to have sunk the chance of Democrats calling witnesses and opened the door to Donald Trump’s swift acquittal?

Alexander, who has represented Tennessee in the Senate since 2003, was seen by Democrats as a possible target in their hunt for four votes to enable them to call witnesses because he is a moderate and he is retiring this year, so he cannot suffer the sort of electoral damage Trump has often tried to mete out to his GOP enemies.

But last night Alexander revealed his thinking, releasing a statement saying that he felt that senators needed to hear no further evidence, since Democrats had proved their case against Trump – but, crucially, that case “does not meet the United States Constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense”.

The 79-year-old Alexander was education secretary under George HW Bush and governor of Tennessee from 1979 to 1987, making headlines during the 1978 election campaign when he walked 1,000 miles across the state. A former lawyer, he ran in the Republican presidential primaries in 1996 and 2000, with little success.

As a senator he has worked in a bipartisan fashion, notably on education reforms and on trying to find a compromise to shore up Barack Obama’s signature healthcare changes, under threat from Trump and other Republicans. His statement overnight made a point of showing his dissatisfaction with the lack of bipartisanship involved in Trump’s impeachment.

“The framers believed that there should never, ever be a partisan impeachment. That is why the constitution requires a 2/3 vote of the Senate for conviction. Yet not one House Republican voted for these articles,” he said. The same statement revealed that he would not be joining the Democrats in either of the crucial votes expected to conclude Trump’s impeachment.

Lamar Alexander.
Lamar Alexander. Photograph: Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Updated

Trump impeachment: a success or failure for the Democrats?

If today does turn out to be the end of the road for Trump’s impeachment, there will surely be some soul-searching in the Democratic party about whether or not they made the right decision in triggering this process.

Democratic leaders went into it knowing it was almost certain Trump would be acquitted, but they hoped to put his impeachment on the record for posterity, gum up his legislative agenda, and damage him ahead of this November’s election.

They seem to have succeeded on the first two counts, but the jury is probably out on the final point – and we won’t be able to judge that for sure until election night.

Certainly Trump and the Republicans have been forcefully making the case that the impeachment process was an attempt by the Democrats to overturn Americans’ democratic choice in 2016, and take away their democratic choice this year. “Washington Dems have spent the last 3 years trying to overturn the last election – and we will make sure they face another crushing defeat in the NEXT ELECTION,” Trump tweeted overnight following a rally in Iowa.

That argument may succeed in rallying support for Trump.

But Democrats may feel that if even half a percentage point ends up being knocked off Trump’s vote tally by impeachment, that’s a success.

Polling so far has been a bit inconclusive. More Americans have consistently supported putting him through the impeachment process than oppose it – although that support has never been higher than 52%.

Support for removing him has been more flaky - after starting surprisingly strongly earlier this year, it dropped below opposition in December and at present the two are running neck and neck.

Meanwhile Trump’s approval rating remains pretty much where it has been since mid-2018, with around 52% disapproving of the president and 44% approving. None of the many dramas that have shaken Trump’s presidency in the last 18 months have substantially shifted those figures.

Updated

Trump may be acquitted as early as today

Good morning. Today Donald Trump could become the third US president to be acquitted in a Senate impeachment trial.

Senators will reconvene at around 1pm ET (6pm UK) for two more hours of debate on each side.

They will then vote on whether or not to call witnesses. A vote for witnesses would extend the impeachment trial and would probably lead to John Bolton being called. Trump’s former national security adviser claims in his forthcoming book that the president directly linked a delay in military aid to Ukraine to a condition that the Ukrainian government investigate one of his Democratic rivals, Joe Biden – the issue at the heart of the impeachment proceedings.

Democrats need four Republicans to vote with them to call witnesses, and seem to have got the support of Mitt Romney and Susan Collins. Another moderate, Lisa Murkowski, said she would sleep on it.

But last night one of the other senators they have been targetting, Lamar Alexander, said that “there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the United States constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense”.

Although what Trump had done was “inappropriate”, Alexander said, the misconduct did “not meet the US constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense”.

He added:

The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did. I believe that the constitution provides that the people should make that decision in the presidential election that begins in Iowa on Monday.

That would leave the vote at a 50-50 tie. Chief Justice John Roberts could break the tie - but he may just allow the motion to fall, meaning no witnesses.

If that vote fails, Republicans will push for a swift vote on whether to convict Trump. Since 20 GOP senators would need to switch sides to do that, the president is almost certain to be acquitted.

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, gave a hint last night that he hadn’t quite given up hope, hinting that his party could use some sort of delaying tactics to thwart Republicans’ plans for a quick decision.

“The minority has rights, and we will exercise those rights,” he said. Asked for further details, he said: “We’re not going to get into that here. Our focus right now is on getting the four.”

We’ll have full coverage of the trial – and all other major developments in US politics – throughout the day.

Meanwhile most of the Democrats running for president – except for those in the Senate – are in Iowa ahead of Monday’s caucuses, which kick off the primary race in earnest.

And the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, is in Ukraine – becoming the highest-ranking American official to visit Ukraine since the impeachment process began last year – where he will hold a joint press conference with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Here is some of our impeachment coverage from yesterday:

Updated

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