WTF Just Happened Today

Thursday, December 19, 2019

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1/ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won't commit to sending the articles of impeachment against Trump to the Senate until she sees "the process that is set forth" to ensure a "fair" trial. Democrats have questioned the impartiality of the Senate trial after Mitch McConnell said he's coordinating with the White House to quickly acquit Trump. Senior Democratic aides suggested it was "very unlikely" that the House will send the articles to the Senate before January, effectively delaying the impeachment trial well into the new year, in order to pressure Republicans to allow new witnesses and evidence in the proceeding. "We cannot name managers until we see what the process is on the Senate side," Pelosi said. "So far we haven't seen anything that looks fair to us." (New York Times / ABC News / Politico / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)

2/ Mitch McConnell mocked Pelosi's threat to withhold the articles of impeachment, criticizing her as "too afraid" to transmit "their shoddy work product." McConnell then called the impeachment inquiry "the most rushed, least thorough, and most unfair" in modern history. (Politico / CNN)

• Putin said Trump was impeached on "trumped-up charges" for reasons "far-fetched" and doesn't believe the Senate will "vote him out of power." Putin also likened Trump's impeachment to the probe into collusion with Russia, which Putin played down as groundless. (Politico / Associated Press)

3/ A top State Department aide told the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine to step down from his post and leave Kyiv before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visits in January. Bill Taylor, a key witness in the Trump impeachment inquiry, has not had any direct contact with Pompeo since his testimony before Congress last month and will leave his post on January 2. The timing means that Pompeo will not have to meet, be seen or photographed with Taylor. (CNN)

• ???? Day 1062: The top U.S. diplomat for Ukraine will leave his post at the end of the year. Bill Taylor was a key witness in the congressional impeachment inquiry into Trump and described for Congress what he saw as Trump's efforts to pressure Kyiv to go after political rivals. (