Senate Republicans on Tuesday backed down from an aggressive timetable and new restrictions on evidence in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, changing course after protests from senators like Republican Susan Collins of Maine.
Instead of cramming as many as 48 hours of opening arguments from House impeachment managers and the White House counsel into just four days this week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s resolution will now give each side 24 hours to speak over three days. That could ultimately extend the trial by two days. And a controversial provision in the plan that would not have automatically included the House’s evidence was also scuttled from a previous draft.
Collins, a key swing vote, viewed the changes to the rules package as "a significant improvement" over Monday's draft, said spokeswoman Annie Clark.
"She and others raised concerns about the 24 hours of opening statements in 2 days and the admission of the House transcript [in] the record. Her position has been that the trial should follow the Clinton model as much as possible," Clark said.
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) also raised concerns about the aggressive schedule for opening arguments, according to a person familiar with the matter. The changes to the handling of the House's evidence could be contentious, as the new resolution will allow White House lawyers to object to evidence if they deem it hearsay.
Still, the changes did little to alter the fundamental partisan dynamics that will come to a head on Tuesday evening. And Democrats said the shifts were surface-level, doing little to change the partisan course of the trial.
"It's clearly an effort to put in place what the White House wanted. And to ignore what [McConnell] had promised the Senate to adopt the rules that the Clinton impeachment used," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in an interview. "This is not a fair trial ... this is a cover-up, pure and simple."
McConnell (R-Ky.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) launched into an epic clash on the Senate floor over Trump’s impeachment trial, with McConnell and the GOP set to institute rules that completely ignore Schumer’s demands to secure witnesses and documents. And on party lines, Republicans began rejecting Democrats' amendments to immediately agree to hear debate on documents.
McConnell will eventually impose his will through the 53-seat Republican majority and pass his resolution along party lines. Still, amid sustained criticism from Democrats for appearing to rush the trial, McConnell defended his blueprint for the first time since it was released on Monday evening.
"Finally some fairness. On every point our straightforward resolution will bring the clarity and fairness that everyone deserves. The president of the United States, the House of Representatives and the American people. This is the fair road map for our trial," McConnell said shortly before the trial kicked off for the day.
McConnell said he would move to table any Democratic amendments regarding witnesses and documents. Republicans have said those issues shouldn't be debated until next week after opening arguments are made. And McConnell said the Senate would stay in session until his resolution passed, presaging a potentially late night.
Schumer was aghast, calling McConnell's plans "one of the darker moments in the Senate's history. Perhaps even the darkest."
The Senate minority leader will force votes by the end of the day on a subpoena for four key administration witnesses as well as documents related to the Trump administration’s withholding of Ukraine aide. Republicans are expected to unanimously oppose his amendments to McConnell’s resolution, but Schumer made clear he will press McConnell all day long.
“McConnell’s very resolution puts many obstacles in the path of getting witnesses and documents even later,” Schumer said at the press conference Tuesday. “Right off the bat Republican senators will face a choice about getting the facts or joining Leader McConnell and President Trump in trying to cover them up.”
Republicans voted to kill Schumer's first amendment, 53-47, which would subpoena White House documents related to meetings and calls between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, investigations or probes involving Ukraine, including any related to former Vice President Joe Biden, and records about the administration’s decision to withhold and then release military aid to Ukraine. Schumer promptly offered two new amendments seeking State Department and Office of Management and Budget documents, which also failed along party lines.
Schumer then teed up a vote to subpoena acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, which failed. The Senate took a brief pause, after McConnell asked Schumer if he would be willing to hold a series of votes together. Schumer responded that Democrats would be willing to hold votes Wednesday but pledged they would not "back off on getting votes on all of these amendments." Unable to reach an agreement to speed up the process, Schumer offered another amendment to subpoena documents from the Department of Defense.
The minority leader is expected to also force votes on former national security adviser John Bolton and OMB officials with the Office of Management and Budget.
Under Senate rules, there will be a maximum of two hours of debate per motion. Schumer said his party has "no intention to be dilatory."
Prior to the vote on Schumer's amendments, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, criticized House Democrats for their impeachment proceedings and accused them of asking the Senate to “become complicit in [their] evasion of the courts.”
House Intelligence Chairman and lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) retorted that Cipollone failed to even discuss McConnell's proposed rules.
"It's worth noting they said nothing about the resolution," Schiff said. "They made no effort to defend it. They made no effort to even claim that this was like the Senate trial in the Clinton proceeding."
Schumer and McConnell met once for about 20 minutes in December about crafting a bipartisan resolution but got nowhere. Schumer pushed for a deal on witnesses and documents before the trial started and McConnell ignored him. Instead, the GOP leader chose to put a far more partisan stamp on the beginning of the trial than the 100-0 vote that kicked off former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial.
Republicans dismissed the Democratic grumbling as theater, believing they never had any intention of working with the GOP.
“My response is that no matter what was in the resolution, I was confident the Democrats would be critical of it,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). “That’s part of the role they decided to play here.”
Under McConnell’s resolution, the Senate will eventually vote on whether to hold a debate on witnesses and documents after the opening arguments and a 16-hour question-and-answer period for senators. All votes on motions in the Senate trial require just a simple majority; the final vote on convicting the president and removing him from office needs 67.
Provided that Democrats’ push to call witnesses fails, Republicans could still potentially clear Trump before his State of the Union address on Feb. 4.
"We should be able to," said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
That would give Trump the quick trial and acquittal that he has long sought; it would also allow Senate Democrats that are running for president to return to the campaign trail more quickly.
Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.
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