Trump impeachment trial UN Security Council urges quick ceasefire in Libya opens with argument

Prez’s lawyers submitted a trial brief and demanded his acquittal by the Senate

Washington DC: The US Senate has started the historic impeachment trial of President Donald Trump amidst acrimonious scenes among the Senators from the ruling Republican party and the opposition Democrats over the rules of the game.

The impeachment trial began on Tuesday and comes nearly a week after the House of Representatives, where the Democrats enjoy a majority, voted to send articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate.

In a 228-193 vote, which was mainly on party lines, the House had appointed seven impeachment managers to argue Democrats' case for removing Trump from the office.

The managers - Congressmen Adam Schiff, Jerrold Nadler, Zoe Lofgren, Hakeem Jeffries, Val Demings, Jason Crow, and Sylvia Garcia - were named by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The 435-member House on

December 18 charged Trump with "high crimes and misdemeanors" and impeached him for pressuring Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a potential Democratic rival for the current president in the 2020 elections.

President Trump's lawyers submitted a trial brief Monday calling his impeachment by the House "a dangerous perversion" of the US constitution and demanding his immediate acquittal by the Senate.

On Tuesday, the Senate started the historic trial in "utter acrimony" as the debate was a technical one about the rules and procedures to govern the trial, The New York Times reported.

Trump's close-ally Mitch Mcconnell laid out ground rules that would block subpoenaing key witnesses or documents while each side makes its case -- potentially crippling prosecutors' arguments.

Flexing his solid 53-47 majority, the Republican Senate leader also made clear he would summarily block any Democratic attempts to change his rules.

"The basic structure we're proposing is just as eminently fair and even-handed," Mcconnell said.

Adam Schiff, the leader of the House impeachment managers prosecuting Trump, countered that the process "makes no sense" for a trial, and was designed instead to ensure evidence is never heard and Trump is exculpated.

Political experts say that Trump is likely to emerge victorious as his Republican party enjoys majority in the Senate.

This is only the third time in American history that a US President is facing impeachment trail in the Senate.

Confident of the end result of the impeachment trial, Trump was in Davos to attend the annual meeting of World Economic Forum, where he met the leaders of various countries, including Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The White House said that the Democrats were a joke and they have no case at all.

"The Democrats are an utter joke - they have no case, and this latest political stunt proves it. 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, White House Deputy Spokesperson Hogan Gidley said.

The Democrats charged the Republican leadership in the Senate of being biased and not fair. "The public realises how unfair the Mcconnell proposal is, and the pressure that we have put on them and on Republican senators has gotten them to change, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

This was rejected by the GOP leaders. This initial step will offer an early signal to our country: Can the Senate still serve our founding purpose? Mcconnell said.

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council called Tuesday on Libya's warring sides to quickly reach a ceasefire that would pave the way for a political process aimed at ending conflict in the oil-rich state.

The United Nations meeting followed up on a weekend Libya summit held in Berlin, which saw the formation of a military commission that is supposed to define ways of consolidating a cessation of hostilities.

It is to comprise five members each from the Un-recognised government in Tripoli and its opponents loyal to military strongman Khalifa Haftar.

"The members of the Security Council urged the Libyan parties to engage constructively in the five + five military commission in order to conclude a ceasefire agreement as soon as possible," the Council said.

The North African country has been torn by fighting between rival armed factions since a 2011 NATObacked uprising killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi and toppled his regime.

Since April last year the

Un-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli has fought back against an offensive by fighters loyal to Haftar, who is supported by several countries including Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and France.

The day before the international conference Haftar's forces blocked oil exports from Libya's main ports.

The move to cripple the country's primary income source was to protest Turkey's decision to send troops to shore up Haftar's rivals.

The military commission is expected to meet in the coming days, according to the UN, tasked with turning an existing fragile ceasefire into a permanent truce as requested by the international leaders in Berlin.

The ceasefire was co-sponsored by Russia and Turkey and has broadly held since it went into effect on January 12.

The summit was attended by the presidents of Russia, Turkey, France and Egypt, as well as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and UN chief Antonio Guterres.

GNA leader Fayez al-sarraj and Haftar were also there but refused to meet. The conference failed to get the two rivals to commit to a permanent truce.

At the summit the main countries concerned promised to no longer interfere in Libyan affairs and to respect an arms embargo imposed in 2011 but which has been violated.

At the end of the Security Council meeting, Guterres told reporters that "there's still a long way to go." He said truce violations have not been widespread.

"We need to move to a ceasefire, and from the ceasefire, we need to move to a real political process and we are not yet there." Haftar insists his military campaign is aimed at battling Islamists.