1/ The first day of Trump’s impeachment trial began with senators debating rules proposed by Mitch McConnell that will guide the Senate proceedings. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced an amendment to compel acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to turn over any “documents, communications and other records” kept by the White House regarding the Trump’s 2019 phone calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the decision to withhold aid to Ukraine, probes into the Bidens, and Ukraine’s role in the 2016 election. The Senate voted 53-47 along party lines to kill the amendment. Schumer then proposed an amendment to issue a subpoena for documents to the State Department, which also failed along party lines, before introducing a third amendment to subpoena the Office of Management and Budget, which enforced the freeze on nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine. The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan government watchdog, found that OMB’s hold on the aid to Ukraine was illegal. [Editor’s note: The Senate will continue debating the proposed amendments before they adopt an organizing resolution, which will set the rules for the impeachment trial. This post will be updated whenever something happens.] New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News / The Guardian / Axios / CNN / CBS News / ABC News)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2020/01/21/day-1097/
