Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Lack of witnesses prompt Blumenthal, Murphy to call Trump impeachment trial a ‘cover-up’

  • Politics
  • by Ana Radelat
  • January 31, 2020
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

C-SPAN

Senators voted 49-51 on a motion to call witnesses and subpoena documents in the president’s trial.

Washington – The U.S. Senate voted largely along party lines Friday to deny Democrats a chance to question  witnesses at President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.

That vote prompted Democrats, including Connecticut Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, to call the impeachment trial a “sham” and a “cover-up.”

“If the trial is rigged to keep hidden the most damming, most important, most relevant evidence, then it’s not a trial,” Murphy said.

Blumenthal said, “I was so deeply disappointed and dismayed to see such partisan divide, such a betrayal of our constitutional obligation.”

Every Republican in the Senate, except Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah, voted against allowing new documents or new witnesses.

The 51-49 vote means the Senate will now move to vote on two articles of impeachment, abuse of power and contempt of Congress that stem from charges Trump withheld U.S. military aid to Ukraine to pressure Kiev to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden. It’s expected the president will be acquitted of both charges.

But that vote will not happen before Wednesday. There will be several votes on Democratic amendments Friday evening. Then the trial will reconvene on Monday.

The House managers who prosecuted the case and the president’s legal team will give closing arguments. Then each senator will have the right to speak before votes are taken on the articles, a process that usually occurs behind closed doors, outside the view of television cameras, the press and others.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell bowed to a request from Democrats to have their arguments heard and agreed to allow the speeches to occur in public, while the Senate is not holding the trial, from Monday through Wednesday.

“The Senate deliberations should be fully open to the public,” Blumenthal  said. “After a White House cover-up and a sham Senate trial, the very least we owe the American people is complete transparency in how we are contemplating this hugely consequential decision.”

The White House wanted the trial to wrap up before Sunday, when the president is scheduled to give an interview with Fox News, or at the very latest before he delivers his State of the Union address Tuesday evening.

The vote on witnesses Friday came after several hours of debate and after new disclosures from the most important witness the Democrats had hoped to hear from – former national security adviser John Bolton.

According to a story in the New York Times Friday about a manuscript of a yet-unpublished book authored by Bolton, Trump asked the former national security adviser to call Volodymyr Zelensky, who had recently won election as president of Ukraine, to ensure that Zelensky would meet with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.

At the time, Giuliani was planning a trip to Ukraine to discuss the investigations Trump sought into Biden and his son Hunter. Bolton wrote that he never made the call.

According to the Times’ account, another witness Senate Democrats wanted to question was also in the room when Trump spoke to Bolton — acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Giuliani and White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who is now leading the president’s impeachment defense, were also in the room, according to the Times story.

The president denied the meeting ever happened.

Murphy almost upended Democratic efforts to hear witnesses at the impeachment trial by publicly opposing his colleagues’ idea to have Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over Trump’s trial, break a tie vote on the issue. Democrats believed Roberts would be more likely to vote in favor of calling witnesses than Vice President Mike Pence.

Murphy said that while the U.S. Constitution mandates the vice president cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate “it’s silent on that matter in an impeachment trial.” That, Murphy said, led him to believe Roberts should not vote.

But Murphy was spared from going against his party’s interests when Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, considered a  swing vote, voted “no” on the witness issue.

Murkowski said the U.S. House sent the Senate articles of impeachment that were “rushed and flawed.” Murkowski also said she was concerned about having a 50-50 vote that would put pressure on Roberts.

“It has also become clear some of my colleagues intend to further politicize this process, and drag the Supreme Court into the fray, while attacking the Chief Justice,” she said in a statement. “I will not stand for, nor support that effort.”

Blumenthal supported having Roberts break a tie in the Senate, but said the chief justice would face “blowback,” at least in the short-term, for doing so.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ana Radelat Ana has written about politics and policy in Washington, D.C.. for Gannett, Thompson Reuters and UPI. She was a special correspondent for the Miami Herald, and a regular contributor to The New York TImes, Advertising Age and several other publications. She has also worked in broadcast journalism, for CNN and several local NPR stations. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Journalism.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Feds will not be placing migrant children in Connecticut
by Mark Pazniokas

The closed Juvenile Training School had been under consideration as a shelter

Lamont closed the restaurants. Now he is their promoter.
by Mark Pazniokas

A year after Gov. Ned Lamont banned indoor dining due to COVID-19, the industry has welcomed him as its savior.

CT lawmakers call for funding to stop ‘mass killing’ of Black and brown children
by Kelan Lyons

Lawmakers identified a $5 billion proposal by the Biden administration, and marijuana and sports-betting legalization efforts, as potential funding.

Lamont faults CDC on J&J vaccine pause: ‘I would have handled it differently’
by Mark Pazniokas

Gov. Ned Lamont and other governors expressed dismay to the White House over pausing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

GOP retains Monroe-Newtown seat in CT House
by Mark Pazniokas

Republican Tony Scott of Monroe won a special election Tuesday in the 112th House District of Monroe and Newtown.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion College students in Connecticut should be vaccinated now
by Dayna Vadala

If the state of Connecticut wants its institutions of higher learning to return to normal in the fall, it’s going to have to get shots into the arms of the students.

Opinion Connecticut, be a International leader against hair discrimination among children
by Faith D. Crittenden, Jade A. Anderson, MD, and Whitney L. Stuard

On March 1, 2020, Connecticut became the eighth state to pass the Crown Act, a national legislative movement that recognizes natural hair and cultural headwear discrimination as a form of racial discrimination in the workplace. While we are  in strong support and advocate for this law, it is important to recognize the limitations of the Crown Act and how it can be improved upon in future policy.

Opinion Three lessons for schools across America from Secretary Cardona’s hometown
by Mark Benigni

Over the past decade, Meriden Public Schools -- where U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona served as assistant superintendent -- has become a unique laboratory for new ideas that push the boundaries of what is possible in public education. And many of those ideas have paid off.

Opinion A healthcare system too broken to fix
by Sosena Kedebe MD

On March 25, the White house announced that it was going to invest over $6 billion in health centers that are funded through the Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in order to expand COVID-19 vaccinations and other health services provided to vulnerable populations. As a chief medical officer for a health center that is strained to reach some of the most disenfranchised patient population in Hartford, this was great news. Yet there was a part of me that took the news with a deep concern. Why you might ask?

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO