If the Democrat-controlled House votes to impeach, then the impeachment trial will play out in the Republican-controlled Senate. On Monday, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called on the Senate majority leader, Republican Mitch McConnell, to demand testimony from four current and former White House aides during the impeachment trial.
Sen. Chuck Schumer: “If Leader McConnell doesn’t hold a full and fair trial, the American people will rightly ask: What are you, Leader McConnell, and what is President Trump hiding?”
Meanwhile, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani told The New York Times Monday that he repeatedly briefed President Trump about how Giuliani believed United States Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was impeding investigations that could politically benefit Trump. The president then connected Giuliani with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Yovanovitch was then ousted after a smear campaign engineered by Giuliani. The impeachment inquiry centers on how President Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine in order to pressure the Ukrainians to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden, ahead of the 2020 election.
The House Rules Committee is slated to hold a hearing today to set parameters for Wednesday’s impeachment floor debate and votes. Democracy Now! will be be live-streaming today’s House Rules Committee hearing at our website, democracynow.org.