NEW: Sen. Richard Blumenthal whether Republicans have votes to block witnesses: 'They may have the votes at this moment, but I hope my colleagues will look themselves in the mirror and look at how they will be viewed by history and by their constituents.'
Trump legal team concludes opening arguments in impeachment trial: ABC News LiveTrump legal team wraps opening arguments at Senate impeachment trial
But in a twist late Monday, Oklahoma Republican James Lankford suggested that senators could review the unpublished manuscript of Bolton’s forthcoming book. In a video posted to Facebook Monday, after Republicans spent the day largely dodging questions of whether to accept new witnesses, Lankford called Bolton’s information “pertinent” to the trial.
"You cannot impeach a president based on an unsourced allegation," he says later, this time mentioning Bolton by name and the president's denial of his allegation that he heard him tie withholding Ukraine aid to Ukraine agreeing to an investigation of the Bidens. "The claim that foreign policy decisions can be deemed abuses of power based on subjective opinions about mixed or sole motives that the president was interested only in helping himself demonstrate the dangers of employing the vague, subjective and politically malleable phrase, abuse of power as a constitutionally permissible criteria for the removal of a president," he says, echoing the argument from Alan Dershowitz on Monday night. .
Romney is listening and looked slightly unamused during the more political portion of Sekulow's remarks. So, for example, is there supposed to be one set of rules for executive privilege and classified information for Senate presidential impeachment trials only and one set of rules for everything else? There are some real practical challenges that start to crop up pretty quickly.”
Some of the concern is abated by addressing this in a classified setting but to put it mildly, the administration wouldn’t trust that the information would stay classified.That’s why they handled it very carefully on the Senate floor, versus the speculation in the media. Deputy White House Counsel Patrick Philbin presents opening arguments during impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump at the Capitol, Jan. 28, 2020Philbin also asks,"How do we tell what an illicit motive is? How do we get inside the president's head?" regarding what he says are Trump's lawful actions on their face.
Philbin argues the law doesn't say if the matter is urgent it has to be shared immediately, but specifically defines"urgent concern" as a serious or flagrant problem, violation of law as it relates to funding, or interference in intelligence matters. He said the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department looked at the complaint and determined it did not meet the definition of"urgent concern.
GOP Sen. James Lankford, who late Monday floated the idea of reviewing Bolton’s manuscript, tells CNN the review is necessary before senators can decide whether to call him as a witness. Sen. Mitt Romney departs the Senate subway upon arrival to the Capitol for the Senate impeachment trial on Jan, 28, 2020 in Washington, D.C.Sen. Mitt Romney, one of the key moderates Democrats hope will support new testimony, again appears open to new testimony. But he goes further on Tuesday, suggesting he’s just as open to hearing from other witnesses called by Trump’s defense team.
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