Senators question defense, prosecution in Trump’s impeachment trial

WASHINGTON (WFLA) – Members of the U.S. Senate will continue questioning the defense team and prosecutors in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial on Thursday.

The questioning period in the trial began on Wednesday. Senators from both parties were given eight hours to question House impeachment managers and President Trump’s legal team.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is running for president in 2020, asked a question about Chief Justice John Robert’s legitimacy. The Chief Justice had to read the question aloud.

Rep. Schiff responded saying he doesn’t think not having witnesses reflects poorly on the Chief Justice, but does think it reflects adversely on the institution.

Question: Can you respond to Philbin’s answer on the foreign policy question?

Answer from Rep. Adam Schiff:

Question: Will President Trump assure the American public that private citizens will not be instructed to conduct foreign policy or national security policy unless they’ve been designated?

Answer from Patrick Philbin:

Question: Can you name a single witness or document the president turned over to the House impeachment inquiry?

Answer from Patrick Philbin:

Answer from Rep. Adam Schiff:

Question: Are there legitimate circumstances where the president could request a foreign country investigate a U.S. citizen?

Answer from Rep. Adam Schiff:

Answer from Patrick Philbin:

Question: Why were House Republicans denied procedural accommodations that were given to the minority during the Clinton impeachment?

Answer from Pat Cipollone:

Question: If President Trump is acquitted on Article 2, what’s to stop him from complete refusal to cooperate with Congress on anything?

Answer from Rep. Adam Schiff:

Question: How would acquitting the president prevent voters from making informed decisions in the 2020 Presidential Election?

Answer from Pat Cipollone:

At one point, before answering a question, Rep. Adam Schiff brought up the Justice Department being in court Thursday over the resisting of House subpoenas.

Question for both sides: Why doe Joe and Hunter Biden’s stories conflict about the Burisma board?

Answer from Pam Bondi:

Answer from Rep. Val Demings:

For the second day in a row, Chief Justice John Roberts refused to read a question submitted by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). Several news outlets say the question presumably identified the whistleblower.

Sen. Paul tweeted right after his question was declined, saying it was about “whether or not individuals who were holdovers from the Obama National Security Council and Democrat partisans conspired with Schiff staffers to plot impeaching the President before there were formal House impeachment proceedings.”

My question today is about whether or not individuals who were holdovers from the Obama National Security Council and Democrat partisans conspired with Schiff staffers to plot impeaching the President before there were formal House impeachment proceedings.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 30, 2020

Once the questioning period is over, the Senate is expected to approach the topic of calling new witnesses. A vote on whether or not to call new witnesses could happen as early as Friday.

Democrats have ramped up their calls for new witnesses – specifically John Bolton – this week. Over the weekend, news broke that an unpublished draft of Bolton’s book claims President Trump wanted to withhold aid to Ukraine until the country helped with investigations into Joe Biden.

In order for witnesses like Bolton or Mick Mulvaney to testify in the trial, all Senate Democrats would need to vote to call them and four Republicans would need to join them.

Nexstar is bringing you complete coverage of the president’s impeachment trial. Our coverage continues at 12:50 p.m. ET on Thursday with Evan Donovan, Mahsa Saeidi and Nexstar DC correspondent Joe Khalil.

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