They say the proposed rules wont allow any new testimony or evidence while we have 2 reporters covering this historic day in washington d. C. Can be how could our White House Correspondent is standing by to tell us about the president s legal strategy and who his defense team is and well be speaking to her in just a moment but 1st we go to heidi. On capitol hill heidi all right so talk us through what is going to be happening in this next hour we heard the Senate Majority leader there lay the groundwork basically tell us whats going to be happening break it down for us. Thats right and you know were actually going to be hearing likely more of the same but the official version in a few minutes time thats because what we heard just now was their regular call the order for Senate Business at exactly 800. 00 g. M. T. Is when we expect the Supreme Court chief Justice John Roberts to then call the Impeachment Court which is the other persona the senate will be adopting throughout this trial thats when the impeachment will be called into order and then well hear the official arguments which likely again will be very partisan in nature and what we just heard now from the 2 Party Leaders in the senate are these extremely partisan attacks essentially each party accusing the other of the same thing of rigging this impeachment process 1st it was the republicans who said that the democratic controlled house was making this im processing this process unfair to the president we just heard Mitch Mcconnell the Top Senate Republican again claiming that the white House Counsel was cut out of participating in the inquiry process well we know verifiably that that is false because the white house was. Invited to participate in the Judiciary Committee hearings but then you have today we have democrats now can play knowing that republicans who control the senate now that they are orchestrating the unfair process and what we have seen laid out in this resolution which is drafted by republicans only is a very speedy and very narrow trial. There are going to condense arguments if this resolution passes lengthy arguments that will be squeezed into very few days so what that means is long long airtimes long hearings that probably will stretch into the middle of the night when few americans are watching their Television Screens catching up on the news also we are and we know that this resolution does not automatically allow the new witnesses to be called the postpones that decision until later and then pointedly it also does not automatically allow already established evidence that is a result from the house investigation it does not allow that to be entered into the official trial record automatically that could happen at a later date democrats have deep fry that specially this last point about admitting the existing evidence they say that is outrageous and unprecedented and evidence that republicans are trying to as you just heard from Chuck Schumers words i have a trial with no evidence thus no trial at all what heidi lets listen to what the Senate Minority leader Democrat Chuck schumer hot to say about the rules proposed by the republicans just a short while ago each Senate Impeachment trial in our history all 15 that were brought to completion feature witnesses every single one the witnesses we request there not to have democrats there the president s own men. The documents are not democratic documents they are documents period we dont know if the evidence of the witnesses or the documents will be exculpatory to the president or incriminating but we have an obligation a solemn obligation particularly now during this most deep and solemn part of our constitution to seek the truth and then let the chips fall where they may. All right so heidi they are expected to vote on the resolution today then what happens starting tomorrow. Well the short of the resolution as written is expected to pass today along partisan lines of enough republican members offering their support in fact every republican member thus far after that we do expect Opening Statements to begin tomorrow and then with this condensed schedule possibly an ending to this trial as early as the end of next week a very condensed proceeding but before we get to that vote of whether or not to remove President Trump from Office Democrats in the senate will have one last chance to try to submit notions to call new witnesses and thats what we just heard Chuck Schumer speak of the even more incivility of these who are witnesses democrats say are absolutely necessary to reveal new information on that is thus far unknown that zeroing in on this question the key question about this impeachment whether or not president from had a close up to motive when he withheld security aide to ukraine and asked that countrys president to investigate and to announce an investigation into trying his political rival joe biden so the president trying throughout this process and his defenders have said that there was absolutely nothing wrong with that request was doing it to combat corruption in ukraine no not linking it to his political aspirations of winning reelection who may have that linking information perhaps john bolton the former National Security adviser perhaps trying to act and choose a status Mick Mulvaney we dont know frankly exactly what those 2 men have to say because they have been blocked thus far from participating in the impeachment process and democrats are hoping that at least at the end of these opening arguments maybe in a week and a halfs time that maybe their final f. To try to help this testimony heidi thank you very much for the moment for us on capitol hill lets not cross over to the white house sandakan really how to say for is kimberly i think were getting ready for whats going to be a very spirited debate over these rules governing the president s impeachment trial what can you tell us about his Legal Team Strategy heading into this and whos representing him in fact. Yeah well the legal team representing him has been publicized for a number of days now its a celebrity lineup Alan Dershowitz is a name familiar to americans we also know that the white House Counsel pats of a lonely of the president s own personal lawyer jay sekulow and also of course someone familiar from the 1999 trial of president bill clinton and that was the the man that was leading the sort of impeachment charge an investigation into president bill Clinton Kenneth starr and i think its important as we point out you know you heard there Mitch Mcconnell talking accusing the democrats in many ways or you heard Chuck Schumer accusing the white house of kind of leading this process and trying to protect the president and have much of this argued in the dark of night that there are some distinct differences between 999 and today and one of the big ones is the fact that so much of this evidence that the republicans or the white house are trying to keep from the trial was actually back in 1009 presented before any of this even started so thats one key distinction the other key distinction all of this as we talked about the effort to obstruct these witnesses when the trial was started back in 1909 those witnesses had already testified it was much it was done on a videotape and the contents of that witness testimony was already known so its really important when you hear Mitch Mcconnell in the white house talking about the the clinton precedent the clinton rules that there are some fair criticisms coming from the democratic side with regard to that because there is some key deviations and many would argue that this is really trying to obscure some of the key facts in all of this so what about the president in all this kimberly we saw him earlier today in davos being really dismissive off the scene the chairman trial what message is he sending by being viable bomblets and what effect do you think the senate is going to have on his popularity and his fostex and 2020. Well it doesnt appear the bar is moving very far when it comes to any change in the president s popularity the polls have been relatively consistent youll hear the president talking about this is a hoax you know this is sort of the new witch hunt that we heard repeatedly decrying with regard to the muller investigation the bottom line is the president has his supporters and were seeing that on capitol hill not only in the form of his legal team but also in some of those surrogates that are now kind of championing his case theyre making the argument this is the 1st time the president has had the opportunity to argue his case it is extensive way so were seeing members of the house inquiry from the republican side who will be sort of going on the National Airwaves if you will making the case for the president but again in terms of those numbers of americans who want to see the present removed from office this country remains split down the middle all right kimberly thank you for that will be interesting to see if anything changes in the coming days kitty hawk as our White House Correspondent they speak some more about this now to alan baron who is as former especially be chairman counsel to the u. S. House of representatives is live from washington d. C. Thank you so much for being with us and thank you for your patience i know youve been sitting there for a while we heard Mitch Mcconnell mcconnell say a few minutes ago that the process was good enough for president clinton and therefore it ought to be good enough for this president President Trump as well 1st of all are the rules the same as the Clinton Bowles in 1009. The answer is no as senator schumer pointed out there were at least 4 important distinctions between the rules as applied in the clinton situation and the way theyre being proposed today by the republicans and i think theres also this. The fact that the failure to cooperate with the house investigation instructing witnesses who had been subpoenaed not to show up. At the government says even if they hadnt been subpoenaed asked to appear voluntarily instructed not to show up i think that changes the whole dynamic i mean its if the house and gotten full cooperation from these witnesses its a legitimate point to say well why didnt you do all your work and make your case before you sent it over to the senate but having stonewalled the house and so many regards no documents no documents produced by the state department. By the Energy Department and not a single sheet of paper for them to say well you should have done all that work in the in the house is so disingenuous and dishonest its really hard to hard to accept it but alan baron are the democrats not making a mistake by challenging these rules set out by mcconnell and the republicans at this late stage of the process i mean what else can they do right now well they can make the record look lets not kid ourselves. The republicans in the senate have the votes for an acquittal that is almost preordained you would need 2020 republican senators to switch and find. Trump guilty in order for him to be removed from office that is not going to happen ok so then the question is what is all this jockeying all about yeah whats the why instead of this much pushing yet exactly you know where its going in fact the republicans given this preordained result could afford to be quite generous about the process they know how its going to turn out so sure you want witnesses have witnesses well why are they being so difficult and you know having like a midnight session of of the deliberations and the presentation by the house i think theyre looking at 2020 thats whats really at stake here if the case is made against trump that is so damning that it will reverberate not with trunk space not with from space theyre not going to move but there is a large segment of uncommitted and independent voters thats what this process is all about will they be persuaded that donald trump does not deserve another term as president of the United States so presumably the democrats also know came to 2020 i mean if we know at the outcome is why even bother to be chosen you know if we know it said in a quite 0 hour that motivations for the democrats there is a huge there is a huge stain on the presidency of donald trump by having been impeached even if hes not convicted in a partisan senate but to the idea of being impeached is will go down in history as one of the only 3 president s in this countrys history who have been impeached thats not a trivial thing and im sure it aint at trump every day of the week. Very interesting to talk to you alan baron thank you so much for your time thank you for being with us on aljazeera. Joining us there from washington d. C. Or lets get some of the days other news now and cross over to our london you center and my county in our intent. Thanks so much for. The impeachment trial is under way the president is that more than 6000 kilometers away in switzerland attending the World EconomicForum Donald Trump has used his speech at a summit to talk up americas economy he says his country is experiencing a boom like never before on diplomatic editor james bays reports from davos. On the day of the start of his trial for peach but this was the divorced version President Trump all the world stage in a place surrounded by Business Leaders who are his advisors knew he would look president ial its clear from his recent comments and his posts on twitter that the us leader is obsessed with impeachment but this was a speech over half an hour long in which the r. Word wasnt mentioned once today im proud to wear that the United States is in the midst of an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen before. Weve regained her stride. Rediscovered our spirit in reawakened the powerful machinery of American Enterprise america is thriving america is flourishing and yes america is winning again like never before thanks bernie of the World Leaders who were in the room know how much now depends on the us a lecture at this could be troublesome last starforce but theyre preparing to for the possibility of a 2nd term this is a global forum dealing with global issues and so we have more and more conflicts breaking out across the world at that need everybody around the table to solve them we need the United States as part of that conversation and the United States needs an effective state Department Needs an effective diplomatic corps and soft diplomacy as well in order to be a true partner and i think people are genuinely worried that we have right this is a place where donald trump feels comfortable he was never invited to speak a divorce as the head of the Trump Organization now he feels part of this elite club as the u. S. President his advisors cleverly using this as a backdrop for a speech to a domestic audience James Burrows aljazeera divorce while political and Business Leaders meet in divorce protesters who blame them for the Climate Crisis a demanding action to protect the planet activists have hung a banner off a cliff face in the swiss resort calling for trump to wage war on Climate Change instead of iran hundreds of activists from across the country marched for 3 days to the town to make their voices heard on the teenage climate activist gratitude berg used her speech at the summit to criticize the empty promises of World Leaders. This is not about rights or lefts. We couldnt care less about your Party Politics from sustainability perspective the rights the lefts as well as the center have all failed. No political ideology or economic structure has been able to tackle the climates and environmental emergency and create a cohesive and sustainable. Because that world in case you havent noticed is currently on fire a deadly new virus which originated in china is causing increasing International Concern doctors in china say the strain of corona virus has killed 6 people and infected 300 more avram brown has more from hong kong. Chinas tightly controlled state media says the mysterious virus has now spread to some of the countrys major cities did it. In addition to more deaths new infections including hospital workers. Who cut a bite to one for the 1st time confirmation that this respiratory virus can be passed from person to person not from the usual you some cases happened in 2 places one in guangdong the other 111 where human to human transmission has been confirmed that the disease was 1st identified in wu han late last year the majority of the confirmed cases of the virus and. We interrupt that report to take you back to washington d. C. And will present and impeachment proceedings getting underway there lets listen in to whats going on in the senate. The sergeant in arms will make the proclamation. Here you here you here e or persons are commanded to keep silent on pain of imprisonment or the senate of the United States is sitting for the trial of the articles of impeachment exhibited by the house of representatives against Donald John Trump president of the United States. Majority recognized lodges for the information of all senators the trial brief filed yesterday by the parties have been printed and are now at a huge senators. The following documents will be submitted to the senate for printing in the Senate Journal the precept issued january 16th 2020 the writ of summons issued on january 16th 2020 the receipt of summons dated january 16 2020 the following documents which were received by the secretary of the senate will be submitted to the senate for printing in the Senate Journal pursuant to the order of january 16th 2020 the answer of Donald John Trump president of the United States to the articles of impeachment exhibited by the house of representatives against him on january 16th 2020 received by the secretary of the senate on january 18th 2020 the trial brief filed by the house of representatives received by the secretary of the senate on january 18th 2020 the trial brief filed by the president received by the secretary of the senate on january 20 2020 the replication of the house of representatives received by the secretary of the senate on january 202020 and the rebuttal brief filed by the house of representatives received by the secretary of the senate on january 21 2020 now without objection the foregoing documents will be printed in the congressional record and. I note the presence in the house of the senate in the chain in the Senate Chamber of the managers on the part of the house of representatives and counsel for the president of the United States. As chief justice the majority leader is recognized ascent of the desk a list of floor privileges for Close Friends its been agreed to by both. That it be inserted in the record and agreed to by unanimous consent without objection and the further information of all senators im about to send a resolution to the desk providing for an outline of the next steps in these proceedings it will be debatable by parties for 2 hours equally divided senator schumer will then send an amendment to the resolution to the desk once thought a member has been offered and reported well have a brief recess when we reconvene senator schumers amendment will be debatable by the parties for 2 hours upon the use or yielding back of. Intend to move to tell you senator schumers amendment and so mr chief justice send a resolution to the desk and asked that it be read the clerk will read the resolution. Senate resolution 483 to provide for related procedures concerning the articles of impeachment against Donald John Trump president of the United States resolved that the house of representatives shall file its record with secretary of the senate which will consist of those publicly available materials that have been submitted to or produced by the house Judiciary Committee including transcripts of public hearings or markups in any materials printed by the house of representatives or the house Judiciary Committee pursuant to House Resolution 660 of materials in this record will be admitted into evidence subject to any hearsay evidentiary or other objections that the president may make after opening presentations are concluded. All materials filed pursuant to this paragraph shall be printed and made available to all parties the president and the house of representatives shall have until 9 am on wednesday january 22nd 2020 to file any motions permitted under the rules of impeachment with the exception of motions to subpoena witnesses or documents where any other evidentiary motions responses to any such motions shall be filed no later than 11 am on wednesday january 22nd 2020 all materials filed pursuant to this paragraph shall be filed with the secretary and be printed and made available to all parties arguments on such motion shall begin at 1 pm on wednesday january 22nd 2020 and each side may determine the number of persons to make its presentation following which the senate shall deliberate if so ordered under the impeachment rules and vote on any such motions following the disposition of such motions or if no motions are made then the house of representatives. Make its presentation in support of the articles of impeachment for a period of time not to exceed 24 hours over up to 3 session days following the house of representatives for presentation the President Shall make his presentation for a period not to exceed 24 hours over up to 3 session days each side may determine the number of persons to make its presentation upon the conclusion of the president s presentation senators may question the parties for a period of time not to exceed 16 hours upon the conclusion of questioning by the senate there shall be 4 hours of argument by the parties equally divided followed by deliberation by the senate if so ordered under the impeachment rules on the question of whether it shall be in order to consider and debate under the impeachment rules any motion to subpoena witnesses or documents the Senate Without any intervening action motion or amendment so then decide by the yeas and nays whether it shall be in order to consider and debate under the impeachment rules any motion to subpoena witnesses or documents following the disposition of that question other motions provided under the impeachment rules shall be in order if the senate agrees to allow either the house of representatives or the president to subpoena witnesses the witnesses shall 1st be deposed and the senate shall decide after deposition which witnesses shall testify pursuant to the impeachment rules no testimony shall be admissible in the Senate Unless the parties have had an opportunity to depose such witnesses at the conclusion of deliberations by the senate the senate shall vote on each article of impeachment the resolution is arguable by the parties for 2 hours equally divided mr manager shifts are you a proponent or opponent of this motion and others are in opposition. Thank you this just shipload are you a proponent or opponent of the motion yes. Then mr sibal on your side may proceed 1st and well be able to reserve rebuttal time if you wish. Thank you mr chief justice. Majority leader mcconnell democratic leadership him or senators my name is pat simple loney i am here as counsel to the president of the United States. Our team is proud to be here representing President Trump. We support this resolution it is a fair way to proceed with this trial it is modeled on the clinton resolution which had 100. 00 senators supporting it the last time this body considered impeachment. It requires the house managers to stand up and make their Opening Statement and make their case. They have delayed bringing this impeachment to this house for 33. 00 days 33. 00 days to this body and its time to start with this trial its a fair process they will have the opportunity to stand up and make their Opening Statement they will get 24 hours to do that and then the president s attorneys will have a chance to respond after that all of you will have 16 hours to ask whatever questions you have of either side once thats finished and you have all of that information we will proceed to the question of witnesses and some of the more difficult questions that will come before this body. We are in favor of this. We believe that once you hear those initial presentations the only conclusion will be that the president has done absolutely nothing wrong. And that these articles of impeachment do not begin to approach the standard required by the constitution and in fact they themselves will establish nothing beyond those articles you look at those articles alone and you will determine that there is absolutely no case so we respectfully ask you to adopt. This resolution so that we can begin with this process it is long past time to start this proceeding and we are here today to do it and we hope that the house managers will agree with us and begin this proceeding today we reserve the remainder of our time for rebuttal. Justice senators and counsel for the president the house managers on behalf of the house of representatives rise in opposition to leader mcconnells resolution let me begin by summarizing why last week we came before you to present the articles of impeachment against the present United States for only the 3rd time in our history those articles charged president Donald John Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of congress the misconduct set out in those articles is the most serious ever charged against a president the 1st article abuse of power charges the president was soliciting a foreign power to help him cheat in the next election. Moreover it alleges and we will prove that he sought to coerce ukraine into helping him cheat by withholding official acts 2 official acts a meeting that the new president of ukraine desperately sought with President Trump at the white house to show the world and the russians in particular that the ukrainian president had a Good Relationship with his most important patron the president of the United States and even more pernicious late President Trump illegally withheld almost 4 100000000. 00 in taxpayer funded military assistance to ukraine a nation at war with our russian adversary to compel ukraine to help him cheat in the election astonishingly the president s trial brief filed yesterday contends that even if this conduct is proved that there is nothing that the house or this senate may do about it it is the president s apparent belief that under article 2 he can do anything he wants no matter how corrupt outfitted in god he legal clothing and yet when the founders wrote the impeachment clause they had precisely this type of misconduct in mind conduct that abuses the power of his office for personal benefit that undermines our National Security that invites foreign interference in our democratic process of an election it is the trifecta of constitutional misconduct justifying impeachment in article 2 the president is charged with other misconduct that would likewise have alarmed the founders the full complete and absolute obstruction of a coequal branch of government the congress during the course of its impeachment vesta geisha into the president s own misconduct this is every bit as destructive of our Constitutional Order as the misconduct charged in the 1st article. If a president can obstruct his own investigation if he can effectively nullify a power the constitution gives solely to congress indeed the ultimate power the ultimate power the constitution gives to prevent president ial misconduct and the president places himself beyond accountability above the law cannot be indicted cannot be impeached it makes him a monarch the very evil against which our constitution and the balance of powers it carefully laid out was designed to guard against shortly the trial of these charges will begin and when it has concluded you will be asked to make several determinations did the house prove that the president abused his power by seeking to coerce a foreign nation to help him cheat in the next election and did he obstruct the congress in its investigation into his own misconduct by ordering his agencies and officers to cooperate refused to cooperate in any way to refuse to testify refused to answer subpoenas for documents and through every other means and if the house has proved its case and we begin believe the evidence will not be seriously contested you will have to answer at least one other critical question does the commission of these high crimes and misdemeanors require the conviction and removal of the president we believe that it does and that the constitution requires that it be so or the power of impeachment must be deemed a relic or a casualty to partisan times and American People left unprotected against a president who would abuse his power for the very purpose of corrupting the only other method of accountability our elections themselves and so you will vote to find the president guilty or not guilty to find his conduct impeachable or not impeachable but i would submit to you. These are not the most important decisions you will make how can that be how can any decision you will make be more important than guilt or innocence and removing the president or not removing the president i believe the most important decision in this case is the one you will make today the most important question is the question you must answer today will the president and the American People get a fair trial will there be a fair trial i submit that this is an even more important question than how you vote on guilt or innocence because whether we have a fair trial will determine whether you have a basis to render a fair and impartial verdict it is foundational the structure upon which every other decision you will make must rest if you only get to see part of the evidence if you only allow one side or the other a chance to present their full case your verdict will be predetermined by the bias in the proceeding if the defend is not allowed to introduce evidence of his innocence its not a fair trial so to for the prosecution if the house cannot call witnesses or introduce documents and evidence its not a fair trial its not really a trial at all americans all over the country are watching us right now and imagine theyre on grand jury or theyre on jury duty imagine that the judge walks into that courtroom and says that shes been talking to the defendant and at the defendants request the judge has agreed not to let the prosecution call any witnesses or introduce any documents the judge and the defendant have agreed that the prosecutor may only read to the jury the dry transcripts of the grand jury proceedings thats it has anyone on jury duty in this country ever heard a judge describe such a proceeding and call it a fair trial of course not. Thats not a fair trial its a mockery of a trial under the constitution this proceeding the one we are in right now is the trial this is not the appeal from a trial you are not Appellate Court judges ok one of you is. And unless this trial is going to be different from every other impeachment trial or any other kind of trial for that matter you must allow the prosecution and defense the house manager and the president s lawyers to call relevant witnesses you must subpoena documents that the president has blocked but which bear on his guilt or innocence you must impartially do justice as your oath requires so what does a fair trial look like in the context of impeachment the short answer is it looks like every other trial 1st the resolution should allow the house managers to obtain documents that have been withheld 1st not last because the documents will inform the decision about which witnesses are most important to call and when the witnesses are called the documentary evidence will be available and must be available to question them with any other order makes no sense next the resolution should allow the house managers to call their witnesses and then the president should be allowed to do the same in any rebuttal witnesses and when the evidentiary portion of the trial ends the parties argue the case you deliberate and render a verdict if there is a dispute as to whether a particular witness is relevant or material to the charges brought under the senate rules the chief justice would rule on the issue of materiality why should this trial be different than any other trial the short answer is it shouldnt. The leader mcconnells resolution would turn the trial process on its head as a resolution requires the house to prove its case without witnesses without documents and only after its done with such questions be entertained with no guarantee that any witnesses or any documents will be allowed even then that process makes no sense so what is the harm of waiting until the end of the trial of kicking the can down the road on the question of documents and witnesses besides the fact its completely backwards trial 1st then evidence besides the fact that the documents would inform the decision on which witnesses and help in their questioning the harm is this you will not have any of the evidence the president continues to conceal throughout most or all of the trial and although the evidence against the president is already overwhelming you may never know the full scope of the president s misconduct or those around him and neither will the American People the charges here involve the sacrifice of our National Security at home and abroad and a threat to the integrity of the next election if there are additional remedial steps that need be taken after the president s conviction the American People must know about it but if as a public already jaded by experience has come to suspect this resolution is merely the 1st step of an effort orchestrated by the white house to rush the trial hide the evidence and render a fast verdict or worse a fast dismissal to make the president go away as quickly as possible to cover up his misdeeds then the American People will be deprived of a fair trial and they never learn just how deep the corruption of this administration goes or what other restore our security and elections remain hidden the harm will also endure for this body. If the senate allows the president to get away with such extensive obstruction it will affect the senates power of subpoena and oversight just as much as the house the senates ability to conduct oversight will be beholden to the desires of this president and future president s whether he or she decides they want to cooperate with the Senate Investigation or another impeachment inquiry and trial our system of checks and balances will be broken president s will become accountable to no one now it has been reported that leader mcconnell has already got the votes to pass this resolution the text of which we did not see until last night and which has been changed even moments ago and they say that leader mcconnell is a very good vote counter nonetheless i hope that hes wrong and not just because i think this process the process contemplated by this resolution is backwards and designed with the result in mind and that the result is not a fair trial i hope that he is wrong because whatever senators may have said or pledged or committed has been superseded by an event of constitutional dimension you have all now sworn an oath not to each other not to your legislative leadership not to the managers or even to the chief justice you have sworn an oath to do impartial justice that oath binds you that oath supersedes all else many of you in the senate and many of us in the house have made statements about the president s conduct or this trial or this motion or expectations none of that matters now that is all in the past nothing matters now but the oath to do impartial justice and that oath requires a fair trial fair to the president. And fair to the American People but is that really possible or as the founders feared has factionalism or excessive partisanship made that now impossible one way to find out what a fair trial should look like devoid of partisan consideration is to ask yourselves how would you structure the trial if you didnt know what your party was and you didnt know what the party of the president was would it make sense to you to have the trial 1st and then decide on witnesses and evidence later would that be fair to both sides i have to think that your answer would be no let me be blunt. Let me be very blunt right now a great many perhaps even most americans do not believe there will be a fair trial they dont believe that the senate will be impartial they believe that the result is precooked the president will be acquitted not because he is innocent he is not but because the senators will vote by party and he has the votes the votes to prevent the evidence from coming out the votes to make sure the public never sees it the American People want a fair trial they want to believe their system of government is still capable of rising to the occasion they want to believe that we can rise above party and do whats best for the country but a great Many Americans dont believe that will happen lets prove them wrong lets prove them wrong how. By convicting the president no not by conviction alone by convicting him if the house proves its case and only if the house proves its case but by letting the house prove its case by letting the house call witnesses by letting the house obtain documents by letting the house decide how to present its own case and not deciding it for us in some by agreeing to a fair trial now lets turn to the precise terms of the resolution and the history of impeachment trials and what fairness and impartiality require. Although we have many concerns about the resolution and i will begin with its single biggest flaw the resolution does not ensure that subpoenas will in fact be issued for additional evidence that the senate and the American People should have and that the president continues to block to fairly decide the president s guilt or innocence moreover it guarantees that subpoenas will not be issued now when they would be most valuable to the senate the parties and the American People according to the resolution the leader has introduced 1st the Senate Receives briefs and filings from the parties next that hears lengthy presentations from the house and the president now my colleagues the president s lawyers have described this as Opening Statements but lets not kid ourselves that is the trial that they contemplate the Opening Statements are the trial theyll either be most of trial or theyll be all the trial if the senate votes to deprive itself of witnesses and documents the Opening Statements will be the end of the trial so to say lets just have the Opening Statements and then well see means lets have the trial and maybe we can just sweep this all under the rug so youll hear these lengthy presentations from the house. There will be a question answer period for the senators and then and only then after essentially the trial is over after the briefs a been filed after the arguments a bit made after the centers exhaust all other questions only then will the senate consider whether to subpoena crucial documents and witness testimony that the president has desperately tried to conceal from this congress and the American People documents and witness testimony that unlike the clinton trial have not yet been seen or heard it is true that the record compiled by the house is overwhelming it is true the record already compels the conviction of the president in the face of an press that resistance by the president the house assembled a powerful case evidence of the president s high crimes and misdemeanors and includes direct evidence and testimony of officials who were unwilling and unwitting in this scheme and saw it for what it was yet there is still more evidence relative in probative evidence that the continue the president continues to block that would flesh out the full extent of the president s misconduct and those around him we have seen that over the past few weeks new evidence has continued to come to light as the Nonpartisan Government Accountability Office says to term and that the hold on military to ukraine was illegal and broke the law as john bolton has offered to testify in the trial as one of the presents an agents lead part us has produced documentary evidence that clarifies mr giulianis activities on behalf of the president and corroborate some bastards silence testimony that everyone was in the loop as documents released under the freedom of information act have documented the alarm at the department of defense while the president either legally withheld military support for ukraine and ally at war with russia without explanation. As a Senior Office of management budget official Michael Duffy instructed Defense Department officials on july 25th 90 minutes after President Trump spoke by phone with president selenski that Defense Department should pause all obligation of Ukraine Military assistance under its purview 90 minutes after that call duffy added quote given the sensitive nature of the request i appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute the direction although the evidence is already more than sufficient to convict there is simply no rational basis for the senate to deprive itself of all relevant information in making such a hugely consequential judgment moreover as the president s answer to his summons and his trial brief make clear the president now attempts to contest the facts l b it in false and misleading ways but the president should not have it both ways he should not be permitted to claim that the facts uncovered by the house are wrong while also concealing mountains of evidence that bear precisely on those facts if this body seeks impartial justice it should ensure that subpoenas are issued and that they are issued now before the Senate Begins extended proceedings based on a record that every person in this room and every american watching at home knows does not include documents and witness testimony it should because the president would not allow it to be so complying with these subpoenas would not impose a burden the subpoenas cover narrowed tailored and targeted documents and witnesses that the president has concealed. The senate deserves to see the documents from the white house the state department the office of management budget the department of defense these agencies already should have collected and at least preserved these documents in response to house subpoenas indeed in some cases agencies have already produced documents in for a lawsuit be it in heavily redacted form and witnesses with direct knowledge or involvement should be heard that includes the president s acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney his former National Security adviser john bolton who has publicly offered to testify to senior officials implementing integral to implementing the president s freeze on ukraines military aid also have very relevant testimony why not here it robert blair who serves as move any Senior AdvisorMichael Duffy a senior official at o. M. B. And other witnesses with direct knowledge that we reserve the right to call later but these witnesses with whom we wish to begin the trial last month present trial made clear that he supported having senior officials testify before the senate during his trial declaring that he would love to have secretary pompei old mr move any now former secretary perry and quote many other people testify in the senate trial. It. May. Be able thats what the senate has an opportunity to take the president up on his offer to make his senior aides available including mr motivating and secretaries perry and pump. But now the president is changing his tune the bluster of wanting these witnesses to testify is over. Not withstanding the fact that he has never asserted a claim of privilege during the course of the house impeachment proceedings he threatens to invoke one now in a last ditch effort to keep the rest of the truth from coming out the president sends his lawyers here to breathlessly claim that these witnesses or others cannot possibly testify because it involves National Security never mind that it was the president s actions in withholding military aid from an ally at war that threatens our National Security in the 1st place never mind that the most and peaches will serious offenses will always involve National Security because they will involve other nations and that misconduct based on foreign entanglement was what the framers feared most the presence absurdist argument amounts to this we must endanger National Security to protect National Security we must make a president s conduct threatening our security beyond the reach of the pietschmann power if we are to save the presidency this is dangerous nonsense as justices of the Supreme Court have underscored the constitution is not a suicide pact but let us turn from the abstract to the very concrete and let me show you just one example of what the president is hiding in the name of National Security there is a document which the president has refused to turn over in which his top diplomat in ukraine says to 2 other appointees of the president as i said on the phone i think its crazy to withhold Security Assistance for help with a Political Campaign the administration refuses to turn over that document and so many more we only know about its existence we have only seen its contents because it was turned over by a cooperating witness this is what the president would hide from you and from the American People. In the name of National Security he would hide graphic evidence of his dangerous misconduct the only question is and it is the question raised by this resolution will you let him last year present tribes said that article 2 of the constitution will allow him to do anything he wanted and evidently believing that article 2 empowered him to denigrate defy a coequal branch of government he also declared that he will fight all subpoenas lets lets hear the president s own words. That i have an article where i have the right to do whatever i want to stress and then i will fight it well this is a. True to his pledge to obstruct congress when President Trump faced an impeachment inquiry and house of representatives he ordered the executive branch to defy every single requests on every single subpoena he issued this order through his white House Counsel pat simple own on october 8th the same counsel that stood before you a moment ago to defend the president s misconduct he then affirmed it again at a rally on october 10th following President Trumps cata go categorical order we never received the documents and communications it is important to note in receive using to respond to congress the president did not make any any formal claim of privilege ever instead mr sip loans letter stated in effect that the president with would hold all evidence in the executive branch unless the house surrendered to demands that would effectively place President Trump in charge of the inquiry into his own misconduct needless to say that was a nonstarter and designed to be so the president was determined to obstruct congress no matter what we did and his conduct since his attacks on the impeachment inquiry his attacks on the witnesses have affirmed that the president never had any intention to cooperate under any circumstance and why. Because the evidence and testimony he conceals would only further prove his guilt the innocent do not act this way simply stated this trial should not reward the president s obstruction by allowing him to control what evidence is seen and when it is seen and what evidence will remain hidden the documents the president seeks to conceal include white house records including records about the president s unlawful hold on military aide state Department Records including Text Messages and whatsapp messages exchanged by the state department and ukrainian officials and notes to file written by career professionals as they saw the present scheme unfold in real time o. And b. Records demonstrating efforts to fabricate an after the fact rationale for the president s orders and showing internal objections that the president s orders violated the law Defense Department records reflecting bafflement an alarm that the president suspended military aid to a key Security Partner without explanation many of the president s aides have also fault his orders and refused to testify these include central figures in the impeachment inquiry including white house chief of staff Mick Mulvaney former National Security advisor john bolton and many others with relevant testimony like robert blair and Michael Duffy mr blair who serves as a Senior Advisor to acting chief of staff will veiny work directly with mr duffy a political appointee in the office of management and budget to carry out the president s order to freeze vital military and Security Assistance to ukraine the Trump Administration has refused to disclose or Communications Even though we know from written testimony public reporting and even freedom of information act lawsuits that they were instrumental in implementing the hold and extending it at the president s express direction even. Even as career officials warned accurately that doing so would violate the law the president has also made the insupportable claim that the house should have enforce its subpoenas in court and allow the president to delay his impeachment for years if we had done so we would have abdicated our constitutional duty to act on the overwhelming facts before us and the evidence the president was seeking to cheat in the next election we could not engage in a deliberately protracted Court Process while the president continued to threaten the sanctity of our elections resorting to the courts is also inconsistent with a constitution that gives the house the sole power of impeachment if the house were compelled to exhaust all legal remedies before impeaching the president it would interpose the courts or the decision of a single judge between the house and the power to impeach moreover it would invite the president to prevent his own impeachment by endlessly litigating the matter in court appealing every judgment in gauging every frivolous motion or device indeed in the case of don again the president s lawyer who is ordered to fire the special counsel and lie about it he was subpoenaed by the house in april last year and there is still no final judgment a president may not defeat impeached