ROBERTS’ RULES
Chief justice starts impeachment proceedings with quiet swearing-in of senators
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate opened the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump with quiet ceremony Thursday — senators standing at their desks to swear an oath of “impartial justice” as jurors, House prosecutors formally reciting the charges and Chief Justice John Roberts presiding.
The trial, only the third such undertaking in American history, is unfolding at the start of the election year, a time of deep political division in the nation. Four of the senators sitting in judgment on Trump are running for the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge him in the fall.
“Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye!” intoned the Senate’s sergeant at arms, calling the proceedings to order at noon.
Senators filled the chamber, an unusual sight in itself, sitting silently under strict rules that prohibit talking or cellphones, for a trial that will test not only Trump’s presidency but also the nation’s three branches of power and its system of checks and balances.
The Constitution mandates the chief justice serve as the presiding officer, and Roberts made the short trip across the street from the Supreme Court to the Capitol. He has long insisted judges are not politicians and is expected to serve as a referee for the proceedings. Senators rose quickly when he appeared in his plain black robe.
Trump faces two charges. One, that he abused his presidential power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden, using military aid to the country as leverage. Trump is also charged with obstructing Congress’ ensuing probe.
The president insists he did nothing wrong, and he dismissed the trial anew on Thursday at the White House: “It’s totally partisan. It’s a hoax.”
GAO deems law broken
Eventual acquittal is expected in the Republican-controlled Senate. However, new revelations are mounting about Trump’s actions toward Ukraine.
The Government Accountability Office said Thursday that the White House violated federal law in withholding the security assistance to Ukraine, which shares a border with hostile Russia.
The aid in question was held up last summer on orders from Trump but was released in September after Congress pushed for its release and a whistleblower’s complaint about Trump’s July call with the Ukrainian leader became public.
The independent agency, which reports to Congress, said the Office of Management and Budget violated the Impoundment Control Act by delaying the security assistance for “policy reasons,” rather than technical budgetary needs.
OMB has argued the hold was appropriate and necessary.
“We disagree with GAO’s opinion. OMB uses its apportionment authority to ensure taxpayer dollars are properly spent consistent with the president’s priorities and with the law,” said OMB spokeswoman Rachel Semmel.
Also, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday they are investigating whether former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch came under illegal surveillance by an unknown party before the Trump administration recalled her from Kyiv.
At the same time, an indicted associate of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Lev Parnas, has turned over to prosecutors new documents linking the president to the shadow foreign policy being run by Giuliani.
The developments applied fresh pressure to senators to call more witnesses for the trial, a main bone of contention that is still to be resolved.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the new information from Parnas demands an investigation, which she doesn’t expect from Trump’s attorney general. “This is an example of all of the president’s henchmen, and I hope that the senators do not become part of the president’s henchmen.”
McConnell slams Pelosi’s pens
Republican House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took a far different view of the charges and proceedings.
He opened the chamber decrying Pelosi’s decision to hand out “souvenir pens” on Wednesday after she signed the resolution to transmit the charges to the Senate.
“This final display neatly distilled the House’s entire partisan process into one perfect visual,” McConnell said. “It was a transparently partisan process from beginning to end.” Opening arguments will begin on Tuesday. It would take a super-majority of senators, 67 of the 100, to convict the president. Republicans control the chamber, 53-47, but it takes just 51 votes during the trial to approve rules, call witnesses or dismiss the charges.
WASHINGTON — It’s 1:55 p.m. on Thursday, a few minutes before Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is due in the Senate chamber to kick off the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, and the first thing I noticed when I took a seat in the press gallery was the quiet.
Some of the silence, of course, was due to the historic, somber day. For the third time in the history of the U.S., a presidential impeachment trial was about to start.
The other reason for the hush were the decorum rules for the trial. Everyone — senators, press, visitors — was supposed to not be talking.
This is the second time on Thursday the senators assembled. Earlier, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the lead impeachment manager, was in the well of the Senate reading out loud the two articles of impeachment against Trump, for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
I never thought in my career I would be covering a second presidential impeachment trial, but here I am.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., was in the Senate for President Bill Clinton’s 1999 impeachment trial.
When I get in the gallery, Durbin is already in his seat, which is in the front. As the No. 2 Democrat, Durbin sits in a center front row he shares with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Durbin looks pensive, deep in thought. Others are milling about; he is not.
Over on the GOP side of the chamber, I spot Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., kneeling, talking to Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who everyone will be watching to see if she backs having witnesses testify. As Trump’s trial begins, we don’t know if there will be witnesses. Unless there is a brokered deal, it will take four GOP senators to join with Democrats to force witnesses to testify, and they can’t get to four without her. These weighty, crucial matters aside for the moment, with his pants hiked up, I see that Burr is not wearing any socks.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is presiding.
The senators’ names are being called out as the quorum call starts. I see two former 2020 Democratic presidential candidates — Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey — enter the chamber from the cloakroom with Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and they all seem chummy.
Another Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, is in her seat, in a back row, quietly observing.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., arrives, in her wheelchair. Her seat is in a back row, next to another 2020 hopeful, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado.
After their very public spat, I am on the lookout for 2020 rivals Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to see if their paths cross. They don’t, far as I can tell.
It is very rare that all 100 senators are on the floor at the same time. (On Thursday, 99 were present.)
With the quorum established, I see in the back of the chamber the Senate pages are holding open the doors for Roberts, in a black robe, waiting to enter the chamber. He is escorted in — this place is full of rituals — by two Republicans, Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Roy Blunt of Missouri, and two Democrats, Senators Dianne Feinstein of California and Pat Leahy of Vermont.
Grassley swears Roberts in, and then the senators raise their right hands en masse and swear, and this is controversial since Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,
R-Ky., said his mind is made up — to administer “impartial justice.”
The senators, by alphabetical order, are called to sign what is called an “oath book,” another ritual formality. Staffers discreetly wrangle the senators to be ready so this doesn’t take all day.
In a room of colorful personalities but bland dressers, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, DAriz. — the most fashion-forward senator — stood out in her bright sizzling red caped dress with a plunging neckline and matching spike heels.
Later in the day, I talked to Senate Historian Betty Koed, who told me the oath book, after the trial, will be sent to the National Archives.
Afterward, I also spoke with Durbin in his office. Sitting on his desk was a book he read and recommends, “High Crimes and Misdemeanors — A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump,” by Frank O. Bowman III. I asked him why he was so pensive. Said Durbin, “It’s is a solemn, serious moment. The Senate changes when we get into this constitutional responsibility. The presence of the chief justice just turns the place into a different room. You’re not in the same room where you do business every day. It’s a different place, different rules, different expectations. And it should be. I mean, there’s nothing more serious under the Constitution but to consider whether a president should be removed.”