is ending her first year on capitol hill on a very high note, and there will be a special last word from lawrence and rachel. but we want to begin this hour with the stalemate over the senate impeachment trial of donald trump amid a renewed push from democrats for witnesses to testify. in fact, witnesses that the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell does not actually want. he has already declared that he will not be an impartial juror in all of this. he is coordinating trial strategy with the white house. and he has rejected minority leader chuck schumer s request for any witnesses before the trial even begins. a new editorial in the bulwark argues that mitch mcconnell is a danger to the constitution and a problem for america. editor at large bill kristol writes, mcconnell s actions to date prevent the senate from organizing the trial, whatever the ultimate verdict, in a way consistent with the constitutional design and with a sense of fairness in the body politic. he is fundamental
believed to be behind the killing. critics at the u.n. are calling the verdict the antithesis of justice and a mockery. meanwhile, a white house senior administration official called the sentencing an important step in holding those responsible for this crime accountable. donald trump stood beside the murderer. in fact he sent his son-in-law jared kushner and treasury secretary steve mnuchin to a conference there this fall. it stripped. trump has repeatedly praised crown prince mohammed bin salman. the men who the cia says ordered khashoggi s murder. robert jordan, the ambassador to saudi arabia from 2001 to 2013. great to have you with us. first of all, sir, let me get your initial reaction to this verdict. you obviously know the criminal system in saudi arabia. you know the kingdom better than us. what do you make of the trial and how that was carried out?
ramp up voter suppression activities, turned that into organizing energy. that s what we re doing on wisconsin. we knocked on 54,000 doors in one weekend this past november. that s more than all of 2015 and all of 2017 combined. so i think folks are getting that message. and the key thing is to keep fueling that all the way through election day next year. i think if you let republicans convince you that they re going to tale tsteal the election, thy will. we still have the power to win. we threw out scott walker in wisconsin last year despite a ton of different attacks on voting, including harsh voter i.d. laws, and we can do it again with donald trump in 2020. with all the talk of suppression and voter i.d. laws, with all of the purging of voters, does it make your job when you go to somebody to register them or encourage them to vote, easier or harder? does it mean you have less explaining to do with the fact that your democratic right to vote is being meddled with by
for the impeachment of donald trump. this is just about how that trial would go. well, i hope that they would consider that. i think mitch mcconnell believes that he has his entire caucus with him, and yet i cannot believe that that entire republican caucus in the senate doesn t take a look at what this president with respect to the ukraine call and over things and thinks this is just wrong. my hope is they set this trial up. they ll find ways to insist that the coverup that has existed on data and witnesses, that that coverup cannot continue. you have to have testimony that describes exactly what this administration did. if i may make one other comment, the chief justice of the supreme court plays a very limited role here. there s not much of a role for the chief justice of the supreme court. he s there and he reads the questions that senators send to the house managers or the president s counsel. the fact is the party that
our constitutional norms and damaging the health of american politics. today the democrats case for more witnesses grew stronger this weekend after damning new evidence further linked the hold on ukraine s military aid with donald trump s demand for an investigation into his political rival. newly relatesed e-mails show that 90 minutes, 90 minutes after donald trump asked ukraine s president to do us a favor, though, a senior official in the office of management dp budget e-mailed the pentagon to freeze the aid to ukraine and more importantly keep quiet about it, writing, please hold off on any additional department of defense obligations of these funds pending direction from that process. given the sensitive nature of the request, i appreciate you keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute the direction. now, that e-mail was sent by mike duffey, who s one of the four witnesses that minority leader chuck schumer wants to