Rep. Jason Crow: Trump tried to ‘cheat’ and should be removed – live updates
The Senate impeachment trial has resumed. Refresh this page for updates.
WASHINGTON – House Democrats prosecuting President Donald Trump in the Senate impeachment trial urged in their closing arguments Monday that senators should convict and remove the president from office.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., said Trump tried to “cheat” in the 2020 election by inviting a foreign government to interfere in the election.
“I submit to you on behalf of the House of Representatives that your duty demands that you convict President Trump,” Crow said. “If you believe, as we do, and as we have proven, that the president’s efforts to use his official powers to cheat in the 2020 election, jeopardize our national security and are antithetical to our democratic tradition, then you must come to no other conclusion that the president threatens the fairness of the next election and risks putting foreign interference between voters and their ballots.”
The Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump began shortly after 11 a.m. Monday, beginning with closing arguments from Democratic House impeachment managers.
– Bart Jansen
Klobuchar going to Iowa Monday nfor caucuses
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., was asked whether it was frustrating to be in Washington on the day of the Iowa caucuses. But she said she’d be flying to Iowa at 4 p.m. EST, after the closing arguments in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump are completed about 3 p .m.
“It is what it is. I’ve got a constitutional duty to be here,” Klobuchar said. “I’m a mom; I can do two things at once.”
Live Iowa caucuses updates:Follow along for live coverage from across Iowa, and the world
She will fly directly to New Hampshire at midnight, after the caucus.
“I’m really excited about how we’re doing right now – a few points away from the people you guys talk about,” Klobuchar said with a smile. “I’m punching way above my weight.”
– Bart Jansen and Christal Hayes
Kennedy doesn’t think Democrats have made their case
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said when he counts his blessings, he counts Sen. Lamar Alexander twice. But Kennedy said he disagrees with the Tennessee Republican that the House Democrats have made their case in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
“I don’t agree that the prosecution has made its case,” Kennedy said.
Lamar made a crucial vote Friday not to allow witnesses at the trial, helping push through a party line vote to reject witnesses and clearing the way for a final vote on acquittal or conviction Wednesday.
‘He shouldn’t have done it’:GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander, who scolded Trump on Ukraine, explains why he backs acquittal
Alexander told USA TODAY Trump’s dealings with Ukraine were “a mistake” and that he “shouldn’t have done it,” but ultimately said the president’s conduct did not meet the standard of removal from office. He said he believed the House proved its case that Trump withheld nearly $400 million in military aid last year to pressure Ukraine into investigating his political rivals, notable former Vice President Joe Biden.
Kennedy said he would explain his vote further on the Senate floor either late Monday or on Tuesday.
– Bart Jansen
Closing arguments to begin
House impeachment managers and President Donald Trump’s legal team will make their closing arguments Monday as senators prepare to vote on whether to convict or acquit the president on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Those two articles of impeachment were approved by the Democratic-controlled House on Dec. 18 after a two-month inquiry into allegations that Trump held up military aid to pressure Ukraine into announcing investigations for his political benefit – including one involving former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic rival in the 2020 election.
Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong and was acting to combat corruption. His defense team has said the House failed to prove its case, that the abuse of power charge is too subjective and the obstruction of Congress charge robs the president of his right to claim executive privilege in court. Attorney Alan Dershowitz made the argument, which many legal scholars dispute, that even if the allegations were true, they weren’t impeachable because they did not constitute a crime.
Last week, the Senate voted 51-49 against issuing subpoenas for additional witnesses and documents, which would have delayed the trial’s conclusion.
Each side will have two hours to argue the case a final time before senators take to the floor to deliver speeches explaining how they view the charges. With a 53-47 Republican majority in the Senate and a two-thirds vote needed for conviction, it is almost certain the president will be acquitted in the final vote on Wednesday.
What we know:Senators will vote Wednesday to acquit or convict Trump
Impeachment and 2020 election:Warren, Sanders, Klobuchar and Bennet will have to juggle Trump impeachment trial and the Iowa caucuses Monday
Schiff: The House proved its case
The lead House impeachment manager, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calf., said Sunday Democrats “proved the corrupt scheme that they charged in the articles of impeachment.”
“That’s pretty remarkable when you now have senators on both sides of the aisle admitting the House made its case and the only question is: ‘Should the president be removed from office because he’s been found guilty of these offenses?'” Schiff said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
Schiff said even if the Senate votes to acquit, “it’s enormously important that the president was impeached” because “by standing up to this president as we have, by making the case to the American people, by exposing his wrongdoing, we are helping to slow the momentum away from our democratic values.”
“But I’m not letting the senators off the hook. We’re still going to go into the Senate this week and make the case why this president needs to be removed,” he said. “It will be up to the senators to make that final judgment and the senators will be held accountable for it.”
Schiff declined to say if the House would continue to seek testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton, who says in his upcoming book that Trump told him the aid to Ukraine was tied to the investigations Trump desired, according to news media reports. But he said one way or the other, “the truth will come out.”
– William Cummings
‘We want to hear that’:News of John Bolton’s book casts shadow over Trump impeachment trial
Republicans concede Trump should have gone through DOJ
GOP Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said Sunday that while Trump’s acts were not impeachable, he should have gone through the Department of Justice if he had concerns about Biden and his son’s former position on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.
“I think, generally speaking, going after corruption would be the right thing to do,” Ernst, who declared she will vote to acquit, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“But I think he could have done it through different channels,” she added, referring to Trump’s decision to have his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, handle it. “He should have probably gone to the DOJ. He should have worked through those entities, but he chose to go a different route.”
On NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Alexander said he believed Trump “called the president of Ukraine and asked him to become involved in investigating Joe Biden.” And he said, “at least in part, he delayed the military and other assistance to Ukraine in order to encourage that investigation.”
“I think he shouldn’t have done it. I think it was wrong,” said Alexander, who plans to vote for acquittal.
“If he was upset about Joe Biden and his son and what they were doing in Ukraine, he should have called the attorney general and told him that, and let the attorney general handle it the way they always handle cases that involve public figures,” said Alexander, who is not seeking re-election in November’s election.
When asked why he thought Trump did not go to the DOJ, Alexander said, “Maybe he didn’t know to do it.”
“I would think he would think twice before he did it again,” he added.
– William Cummings
‘He shouldn’t have done it’:GOP senator who scolded Trump on Ukraine explains why he backs acquittal
Republicans keep Biden in the spotlight
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News on Sunday that “the day of reckoning is coming for congressional and Senate oversight of Joe Biden.”
“I’m going to bring in State Department officials and ask them, why didn’t you do something about the obvious conflict of interests Joe Biden had?” said Graham, who previously pledged to have his committee investigate the matter but has not yet scheduled any hearings.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” he said. “And I can prove beyond any doubt that Joe Biden’s effort in the Ukraine to root out corruption was undercut, because he let his son sit on the board of the most corrupt company in the Ukraine, and we’re not going to give him a pass on that.”
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Ernst said Democrats had lowered the bar for impeachment to the point that if Biden were to become president there would be voices calling for his removal because of Hunter Biden’s connection to Burisma.
“I think this door of impeachable whatever has been opened,” Ernst told Bloomberg. “We can have a situation where if it should ever be President Biden, that immediately, people, right the day after he would be elected would be saying, ‘Well, we’re going to impeach him.'”
– William Cummings
‘Is that true?’:Here are questions senators asked during Trump’s impeachment trial
Contributing: Bart Jansen, Maureen Groppe and Ledyard King
