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With Trump Impeachment Trial in Limbo, Schumer Demands Emails and Documents With Trump Impeachment Trial in Limbo, Schumer Demands Emails and Documents
(about 1 hour later)
With Republicans resisting witness testimony, Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, shifted his focus on Monday from witnesses to documents that he wants subpoenaed for President Trump’s impeachment trial. With Republicans resisting witness testimony, Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, issued a new demand on Monday for internal White House emails and other documents that he wants subpoenaed for President Trump’s impeachment trial.
In a letter to his Senate colleagues, Mr. Schumer laid out a long list of records that Democrats would like to see, including internal emails and documents from the White House, State Department and the Office of Management and Budget relating to the president’s effort to press Ukraine’s leader to investigate Mr. Trump’s political rivals.In a letter to his Senate colleagues, Mr. Schumer laid out a long list of records that Democrats would like to see, including internal emails and documents from the White House, State Department and the Office of Management and Budget relating to the president’s effort to press Ukraine’s leader to investigate Mr. Trump’s political rivals.
The New York Democrat was trying to increase pressure on Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, to negotiate over the president’s trial on charges of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The House voted last week to impeach Mr. Trump in connection with the Ukraine matter.
“There simply is no good reason why evidence that is directly relevant to the conduct at issue in the Articles of Impeachment should be withheld from the Senate and the American people,” Mr. Schumer wrote in asking for the documents.“There simply is no good reason why evidence that is directly relevant to the conduct at issue in the Articles of Impeachment should be withheld from the Senate and the American people,” Mr. Schumer wrote in asking for the documents.
But Mr. McConnell, who has said he is “taking my cues” from the White House in shaping the trial, is not likely to agree to the demand. He already has rejected Mr. Schumer’s request for testimony from four White House officials — including John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff. The letter came amid a deepening partisan impasse over Mr. Trump’s trial on “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Mr. Schumer was using the letter to increase pressure on Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, to negotiate over the format of the proceedings, but Mr. McConnell took to the airwaves to scold him.
“Do you think Chuck Schumer is impartial?” Mr. McConnell asked during an appearance Monday morning on “Fox and Friends.” He went on: “So let’s quit the charade. This is a political exercise.” “Do you think Chuck Schumer is impartial?” Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, asked during an appearance Monday morning on “Fox and Friends.” He went on: “So let’s quit the charade. This is a political exercise.”
In his letter, sent while lawmakers are away from Washington during the holiday recess, Mr. Schumer took a shot at Mr. McConnell, who has said he would not be an impartial juror and has vowed that Mr. Trump would be acquitted. With lawmakers at home in their districts for a two-week holiday recess, Mr. Trump’s trial is in limbo. The House voted almost entirely along party lines last week to impeach Mr. Trump on charges of abuse of oath of office and obstruction of Congress in connection with the Ukraine matter.
“Relevant documentary evidence currently in the possession of the Administration will augment the existing evidentiary record and will allow Senators to reach judgments informed by all of the available facts,” Mr. Schumer wrote. “To oppose the admission of this evidence would be to turn a willfully blind eye to the facts, and would clearly be at odds with the obligation of Senators to ‘do impartial justice’ according to the oath we will all take in the impeachment trial.” In order for a trial to begin, the House must transmit the charges, known as “articles of impeachment,” to the Senate. But with Mr. McConnell coordinating trial planning with the White House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is withholding the articles, she has said, until she gets some assurance that the proceedings will be fair.
Mr. Schumer’s letter comes on the heels of newly released emails showing that the White House asked officials to keep quiet over the suspension of military aid to Ukraine. In his Fox and Friends appearance, Mr. McConnell called Ms. Pelosi’s decision to withhold the articles “absurd.” He predicted she would ultimately back down. “I can’t imagine what purpose is served by her holding on to the papers, so sooner or later I’m assuming she will send them over,” he said.
That request, the emails show, came just 90 minutes after a July 25 telephone call between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. During the call, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Zelensky to “do us a favor, though,” and investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter. Nor is Mr. McConnell likely to agree to Mr. Schumer’s demand for documents. He already has rejected Mr. Schumer’s request for testimony from four White House officials: John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser; Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff; Robert Blair, Mr. Mulvaney’s senior adviser; and Michael Duffey, an official with the Office of Management and Budget.
The letter builds on one Mr. Schumer sent to Mr. McConnell on Dec. 15, in which he also asked for the Senate to subpoena documents, along with four witnesses. But that letter did not specify which records Mr. Schumer wanted. Democrats argue that Mr. McConnell, who has said he is “taking my cues” from the White House, is effectively letting Mr. Trump plan his own trial and violating the oath that all senators take to be impartial jurors during an impeachment trial. In his letter, Mr. Schumer took a shot at Mr. McConnell.
“To oppose the admission of this evidence would be to turn a willfully blind eye to the facts, and would clearly be at odds with the obligation of Senators to ‘do impartial justice’ according to the oath we will all take in the impeachment trial,” he wrote.
The letter builds on one Mr. Schumer sent to Mr. McConnell on Dec. 15, in which he also asked for the Senate to subpoena an unspecified list of documents, along with the four witnesses. But that letter did not specify which records Mr. Schumer wanted.
In the new letter, he was specific. His request for the White House includes “email communications, messages, memoranda and other records” related to the July 25 call, as well as White House records related to the whistle-blower complaint that sparked the House impeachment inquiry.In the new letter, he was specific. His request for the White House includes “email communications, messages, memoranda and other records” related to the July 25 call, as well as White House records related to the whistle-blower complaint that sparked the House impeachment inquiry.
From the State Department, he asked for “detailed notes, emails, text and WhatsApp messages, memorandums to file, and diplomatic cables pertinent to the investigation that State Department witnesses told the House are being withheld.” From the State Department, he asked for “detailed notes, emails, text and WhatsApp messages, memorandums to file, and diplomatic cables pertinent to the investigation that State Department witnesses told the House are being withheld.” The Office of Management and Budget “is also in possession of highly relevant documents and communications related to this case.”
The Office of Management and Budget “is also in possession of highly relevant documents and communications related to this case,” Mr. Schumer wrote. Mr. Schumer’s letter comes on the heels of newly released emails that shed new light on Mr. Trump’s effort to solicit Ukraine to help him win re-election in 2020. The emails, released late Friday by the Trump administration to the Center for Public Integrity, show that Mr. Duffey, the budget agency official, asked officials to keep quiet over the suspension of military aid to Ukraine.
That request, the emails also show, came just 90 minutes after a July 25 telephone call between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. During the call, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Zelensky to “do us a favor, though,” and investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter.
Democrats including Mr. Schumer said on Sunday that the emails make it all the more urgent that Mr. Duffey and the other witnesses testify.
“If the president is so innocent and claims he’s innocent, why would he not allow, just like Richard Nixon did, the people that were closest to him to testify?” Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, who is seeking the presidential nomination, said Sunday on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”
The trial can proceed in one of two ways: Mr. Schumer and Mr. McConnell can reach agreement on a resolution governing the format, or Mr. McConnell can proceed on his own if he can get 51 senators to agree to a resolution.
When President Bill Clinton was tried in 1999, the Senate passed two resolutions. The first, adopted unanimously, governed the basic format of the opening of the trial, including how long each side was given to present its case. The second, which passed along party lines, governed witnesses; there were three, all of whom gave depositions rather than testify in person. Mr. McConnell and other Republicans want Democrats to adopt the Clinton format.
“My belief is that once we’re sworn in, that 51 of us could adopt the rules from last time that would still apply,” Senator Roy Blunt, Democrat of Missouri, said Monday in a brief hallway interview in the Capitol.
“The speaker is a powerful position,” Mr. Blunt added. “But it’s not so powerful that the speaker can decide not to follow through on something like this.”
Emily Cochrane contributed reporting.