WTF Just Happened Today

Thursday, January 16, 2020

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1/ The Senate opened the impeachment trial of Trump – the third presidential impeachment trial in history – with the swearing in of senators and the presentation of the two charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Chief Justice John Roberts, who will preside over the trial, administered the oath to "do impartial justice" to all senators in the chamber. The Senate also issued a formal summons for Trump, informing him of the charges and inviting him to respond by Saturday evening. The Senate will now recess the trial until Tuesday, Jan. 21. A two-thirds vote is required to remove Trump from office, meaning 20 Republican senators would need to break ranks. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted: "I JUST GOT IMPEACHED FOR MAKING A PERFECT PHONE CALL!" (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)

• Chuck Schumer said he will try to force a vote on whether to call witnesses in Trump's Senate impeachment trial. Democrats want to call acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, former National Security Advisor John Bolton and two other White House officials, and also are seeking documents the White House has withheld. Schumer added that the disclosures by Lev Parnas raised "serious questions." (Bloomberg)

2 / Trump "knew exactly what was going on" in Ukraine, according to Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani. Parnas said Trump was "aware of all my movements. I wouldn't do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani, or the President." While Parnas never spoke with Trump directly about his efforts to push Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and the 2016 election, he met with Trump on several occasions, and was told by Giuliani that Trump was kept informed about his work. Parnas also said he warned an aide to then-Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky at the direction of Giuliani that the U.S. would halt aid to the country if it didn't announce investigations that could benefit Trump politically. Parnas also implicated several senior officials in the scheme, including Mike Pence, John Bolton, Devin Nunes, and William Barr. Parnas claimed that Barr "had to have known everything" going on with Ukraine because "Barr was basically on the team." Parnas also claimed that Pence's planned trip to attend Zelensky's inauguration was canceled because the Ukrainians did not agree to the demand for an investigation of the Bidens. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / CNN /