Day in Impeachment: Democrats Focus on Abuse of Power The House managers addressed the first article of impeachment against President Trump. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 2:59 - 0:00 transcript House Impeachment Managers Press Case to Convict Trump “If you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed”: Representative Adam Schiff and the other House managers continued making their opening arguments in President Trump’s impeachment trial, as his lawyers prepared their defense. “He has made it clear: He didn’t care about corruption. He cared only about himself.” “If he is willing to listen to his personal lawyer over his own intelligence agencies, his own advisers, then you can imagine what a danger that presents to this country.” “There is evidence of President Trump himself demanding that Ukraine conduct the investigations. But President Trump also delegated his authority to his political agent Rudy Giuliani to oversee and direct this scheme.” “The Constitution is not a suicide pact. It does not leave us stuck with presidents who abuse their power in unforeseen ways that threaten our security and democracy. Abuse, betrayal, corruption. Here are each of the core offenses the framers feared most. The president’s abuse of power, his betrayal of the national interest and his corruption of our elections plainly qualify as great and dangerous offenses.” “Common sense would tell us that this allegation against Joe Biden is false and that there was no legitimate basis for any investigation. But there are several other reasons you know that the only reason President Trump wanted Ukraine to announce the investigation into Biden that was solely for his very own personal benefit.” “No Constitution can protect us if right doesn’t matter anymore. And you know — you can’t trust this president to do what’s right for this country. You can trust he will do what’s right for Donald Trump. He’ll do it now. He’s done it before. He’ll do it for the next several months. He’ll do it in the election, if he’s allowed to. This is why, if you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters. Because right matters. And the truth matters. Otherwise we are lost.” “I will assure you this. We will be putting on a vigorous defense of both fact and rebutting what they’ve said. Our job here is to defend both the president, the office of the presidency, and the Constitution. We’re going to do that. I see nothing that has changed.” “If you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed”: Representative Adam Schiff and the other House managers continued making their opening arguments in President Trump’s impeachment trial, as his lawyers prepared their defense. Credit Credit... Erin Schaff/The New York Times House impeachment managers addressed the first article of impeachment and a key administration argument: whether there needs to have been criminal conduct for impeachment. The Democrats say no.

The Democrats made a strategic decision to focus on the Bidens during their presentation and used President Trump’s own words against him. Here are highlights from Day 2 of the opening arguments.

From half a world away, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is keeping a tight grip on the impeachment trial. Mr. Trump is scheduled to take a day trip to Florida to give private remarks to the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting. He posted on Twitter about a “witness trade” as the arguments began.

Jan. 23, 2020, 10:59 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 10:59 p.m. ET By Schiff ends the day with a fiery push for Trump’s removal. Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the lead impeachment manager, stepped back to the Senate lectern around 10 p.m. Eastern to deliver one final argument for the day. It turned out to be a stemwinder, jolting the sleepy Senate to attention as Mr. Schiff argued more explicitly than ever before for President Trump’s removal from office. The president’s prosecutor began by re-evaluating the now familiar transcript of Mr. Trump’s July 25 phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, urging senators to hear it with fresh ears after two days of arguments by the House. But his challenge to senators was a straightforward one: Do you really believe that this president, the one on this call, has put the nation’s interests before his own and will do so in the future? “You know you can’t trust this president to do what is right for this country,” he said. “You can trust he will do what’s right for Donald Trump.” What, Mr. Schiff asked, if China interfered in the coming election to help Mr. Trump? Does anyone not expect him to accept it? “If you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed,” Mr. Schiff concluded. “Because right matters. Because the truth matters. Otherwise, we are lost.” The trial was set to reconvene on Friday at 1 p.m. for the managers to discuss the second impeachment charge, obstruction of Congress, and close out their case. Read more

Jan. 23, 2020, 10:18 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 10:18 p.m. ET By Senators are restless as the trial stretches into the night. Image Over a dozen cars at the Capitol idled waiting to take senators away from the trial. Credit... Calla Kessler/The New York Times Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, wanted a change of perspective. So as the third day of President Trump’s impeachment trial stretched into yet another late night, he climbed a flight of stairs and took a seat in the Senate’s visitors’ gallery perched above the chamber. Legs crossed, he looked down on his colleagues and the Democratic House managers, arranged like pieces on a board. “Want to see what it’s like for you guys,” he said for reporters to hear. Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, emerged from a cloakroom with a magazine in hand, returned to his desk and began flipping through the pages. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, abandoned her desk and stood against the back wall of the chamber, where colleagues came and went. The managers, though, showed no signs of tiring as they approached eight hours of oral arguments. Representatives Zoe Lofgren of California and Jason Crow of Colorado plowed through Mr. Trump’s decision to withhold $391 million in military aid from Ukraine to ramp up the pressure on its leaders to deliver politically beneficial investigations he sought. They said it was the third official act undertaken as part of Mr. Trump’s abuse of power. “If there was no quid pro quo, then why did everybody know about it?” Mr. Crow asked. Read more

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Jan. 23, 2020, 10:11 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 10:11 p.m. ET By White House seemed reluctant to help with watchdog inquiry. Image Senator Chris Van Hollen released documents on Thursday showing that the White House ultimately declined to respond to a watchdog’s request for details. Credit... Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times When a federal watchdog pressed the administration for details on the decision to withhold security aid to Ukraine, the White House ultimately declined to respond, according to documents released on Thursday by Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland. The administration instead pointed to a legal memo from the Office of Management and Budget that asserted the hold was “appropriate” so as to avoid “conflict with the president’s foreign policy.” Brian Miller, a senior associate counsel to the president, responding to the request, wrote, “The White House does not plan to respond separately to your letters.” The Defense Department also declined to respond to the watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, saying that it needed “prior coordination with the other agencies involved.” The watchdog found last week that the budget office violated the law when it withheld nearly $400 million over the summer for “a policy reason.”

Jan. 23, 2020, 7:26 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 7:26 p.m. ET By Graham says he’ll resist calls for the Bidens to testify. Image Senator Lindsey Graham speaking with reporters on Thursday. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times As senators filed back into the chamber to resume opening arguments after a brief dinner break, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, told reporters he would resist calls from conservatives next week to try to call the whistle-blower and the Bidens to testify at the trial. “There’ll be a lot of pressure on me to call the whistle-blower, to call Schiff, to call Hunter Biden and Joe Biden,” Mr. Graham said. “I’m not going to give in to that pressure, because I don’t think it will serve the Senate and the country well, there’s ways to do this outside of this trial.” The president was “having the reaction that a normal person would have if they thought they were being accused of something they didn’t do,” Mr. Graham said, adding that the experience was “very emotional.” And he quickly shot down the idea that Mr. Trump should attend the trial, a possibility the president floated this week. “In case you’re listening,” Mr. Graham said, “don’t come.” Read more

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Jan. 23, 2020, 6:32 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 6:32 p.m. ET By The trial breaks for dinner. The Senate impeachment trial has taken a 30-minute dinner break, giving senators a chance to eat, use the restroom and do what they do best — run to the cameras and talk to reporters. The presentation by the House managers will resume when the break is over. (That could be longer than 30 minutes, since lawmakers rarely stick to schedule.) It’s unclear how much longer the presentations will go, but several hours more is a good guess.

Jan. 23, 2020, 6:28 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 6:28 p.m. ET By Jeffries cracks a rare joke, adding a moment of levity. Image Representative Hakeem Jeffries, right, added a moment of levity to the arguments before he went into the case against the president. Credit... Erin Schaff/The New York Times Mark it down: The first joke of President Trump’s impeachment trial took place just before 6 p.m. on Thursday. Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, one of the House managers, strode up to the lectern and in somber tones thanked the chief justice, the senators and the White House lawyers. Then he told a story about running into a fellow New Yorker who asked if he had heard the latest outrage. Mr. Jeffries told the senators that he assumed Mr. Trump, back in town after a trip overseas, had again done something outrageous. “Someone voted against Derek Jeter on his Hall of Fame ballot,” Mr. Jeffries said the friend told him, referring to the Yankees shortstop. Several senators in the chamber chuckled. “I understand that, as House managers, certainly we hope we can subpoena John Bolton, subpoena Mick Mulvaney,” Mr. Jeffries went on. “But perhaps we can all agree — subpoena the Baseball Hall of Fame to try to figure out who out of 397 individuals, one person, goes against Derek Jeter.” There were more chuckles, including from Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. After the joke, Mr. Jeffries moved to the more serious issues of the day, focusing on the president’s efforts to pressure Ukraine for investigations by withholding a White House meeting. Read more

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Jan. 23, 2020, 6:08 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 6:08 p.m. ET By Democrats seek to poke holes in Trump’s expected defense. House managers had a very clear strategy when they walked into the Senate chambers on Thursday: Poke holes in the defenses they expect President Trump’s lawyers will try to employ when it’s their turn this week. The White House defense team claims that impeachment cannot be valid without a crime. So for more than an hour, Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York methodically walked through the history of constitutional law to preemptively assert that such a defense is wrong. Mr. Trump’s lawyers also argue in their legal brief that the president was interested only in combating corruption in Ukraine. So the House managers zeroed in on evidence on Thursday that shows the president was concerned about corruption claims about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son — not corruption generally. And because they expect the president’s legal advisers to repeatedly raise the Bidens when they present their defense, the House managers spent hours debunking the accusation that the Bidens did anything improper in Ukraine. Taken together, Thursday’s presentations by the House managers were meant as a shield against what they expect is coming, most likely on Saturday, when Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, and Jay Sekulow, the president’s personal lawyer, get their chance in the well of the Senate. Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, applauded the House managers during a break in the case for “pre-empting” the arguments from the president’s team. But Mr. Sekulow was undeterred a few minutes later. “I am confident that whether it is Saturday, or Monday or Tuesday that the case will be made defending the president,” he said. “I have no doubt.” Read more

Jan. 23, 2020, 5:58 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 5:58 p.m. ET By Pelosi keeps a tight grip on impeachment. Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s role in the impeachment of Mr. Trump may be formally over, but by her own design, the matter is not out of her hands. Even in her absence from the Capitol this week, as the speaker traveled through Poland and Israel in remembrance of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, she had her hand firmly on the tiller of the prosecution of the president. In many ways, Ms. Pelosi is the eighth, largely unseen manager of the Democrats’ case. She selected the group of seven House impeachment managers from among her closest and most loyal advisers, placing at its helm Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, a trusted protégé whom she privately calls “the general.” Ms. Pelosi has dispatched her handpicked House general counsel to sit at the table inside the Senate chamber, with the prosecutors acting as her eyes and ears. She reviewed all the managers’ written briefs before they were filed. And the multipronged media campaign to make the case for Mr. Trump’s removal is being run out of her office, by her communications director and other staff. “Look, she cares a lot about this,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, said in a brief interview. Read more

Jan. 23, 2020, 5:12 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 5:12 p.m. ET By Galleries draw visitors eager to watch the trial unfold. The presentations at the Senate impeachment trial on Thursday have been some of the most dense yet, starting with a historical lecture about the constitutional roots of impeachment and later delving deeply into the details of President Trump’s actions. But that hasn’t kept the public away. The public galleries in the Senate were as full as they have been all week, with almost 200 people listening quietly as the House managers presented their case. The galleries no doubt included some Senate staff members and others who were assigned to be there. But there appeared to be plenty of regular attendees, too — people just eager to watch a bit of history unfold.

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Jan. 23, 2020, 5:05 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 5:05 p.m. ET By House managers use Trump’s words as evidence. Image President Trump on Thursday at the White House. Credit... Pete Marovich for The New York Times President Trump is nowhere near the Capitol, but the House managers are still using his words against him. At several points on Thursday, the House members prosecuting the articles of impeachment have used video clips of Mr. Trump as evidence of his motives in pressuring Ukraine for investigations into the Bidens. Building his case that Mr. Trump wanted Ukrainian investigations that benefited him politically, Representative Adam B. Schiff, the lead House manager, showed several clips, including one in which Mr. Trump referred to the conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered with his campaign in 2016. “There was a lot of corruption having to do with the 2016 election against us, and we want to get to the bottom it and it’s very important that we do,” Mr. Trump said in the clip, his voice echoing through the chamber. Mr. Schiff quickly made his point: “He’s not concerned about actual corruption cases, only matters that affect him personally.” Later, as Mr. Schiff argued that Mr. Trump only cared about investigations into the Bidens, he used a video clip of the president’s own words, as he discussed his interest in working with Ukraine on corruption. “And let me tell you something, Biden’s son is corrupt. And Biden is corrupt,” the president said in the clip. Read more

Jan. 23, 2020, 4:03 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 4:03 p.m. ET By Democrats make a strategic decision in focusing on the Bidens. Trump’s lawyer sees a mistake. The House managers made a strategic decision on Thursday to focus extensive attention on the actions of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son, Hunter Biden. The lengthy presentation — by Representative Sylvia R. Garcia of Texas, one of the House managers — was aimed at proving that there was no basis to President Trump’s assertions that the former vice president and his son did improper things in Ukraine. “Common sense will tell us that this allegation against Joe Biden is false,” Ms. Garcia told the senators. But allies of Mr. Trump quickly pounced on the extended discussion about the Bidens to insist that the impeachment trial should include scrutiny of their actions, and potentially a move to call them as witnesses. Mr. Trump’s Republican defenders have long argued that the president’s demand that Ukraine announce investigations into the Bidens was not improper because he was merely interested in rooting out corruption in that country. At least one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers suggested the Democrats made a mistake in focusing on the former vice president and his son. “They have opened the door,” said Jay Sekulow, a personal lawyer for Mr. Trump and a member of his impeachment legal defense team. “It’s now relevant.” Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri and a staunch ally of the president, made the same point in a tweet during a break after the presentation. WOW, House managers make extended argument that Hunter Biden’s work w/ Burisma entirely appropriate & no conflict of interest w/ Joe Biden getting rid of prosecutor that had jurisdiction over Burisma. If we call witnesses, gonna need to hear from both Bidens — Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 23, 2020 Read more

Jan. 23, 2020, 3:29 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 3:29 p.m. ET By Sekulow says ‘nothing has changed’ since the Democrats started their presentation. Image Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for President Trump, arriving Thursday on Capitol Hill. Credit... Calla Kessler/The New York Times Jay Sekulow, the president’s lawyer and one of the leaders of his defense team, declared that “nothing has changed in the last day and a half of their two and a half days.” He declined to say whether the White House defense would request any changes to the schedule on Saturday, saying that they would do what “our legal team thinks is appropriate to present our case.” During a break in the trial, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, applauded the House managers for “pre-empting” arguments from the president’s defense team. Mr. Sekulow was undeterred. “I am confident that whether it is Saturday, or Monday or Tuesday that the case will be made defending the president,” he said. “I have no doubt.” Read more

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Jan. 23, 2020, 3:06 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 3:06 p.m. ET By Republicans and Democrats treat the rule to stay in their seats rather liberally. The rules of the Senate trial say the senators are supposed to be sitting in their seats throughout the presentation. In President Trump’s trial, they are treating that rule rather liberally. At one point Thursday morning, when Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York finished his presentation, 19 seats on the Senate floor belonging to a mix of Republicans and Democrats were empty, according to Peter Baker, The New York Times’s chief White House correspondent, who was sitting in the press gallery. Most were only vacant for a few minutes. It appeared, Mr. Baker said, that several senators were treating the end of Mr. Nadler’s presentation — which was followed immediately by one from a fellow House manager, Representative Sylvia R. Garcia of New York — as an unofficial break. Ten minutes after the end of Mr. Nadler’s presentation, 10 seats were still empty. Five minutes after that, most of the senators had wandered back in, and only four seats were empty. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, a Democratic presidential candidate, was one of the senators who left, at 1:59 p.m. She returned 15 minutes later, taking her seat again at 2:14 p.m. Read more

Jan. 23, 2020, 2:56 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 2:56 p.m. ET By Rand Paul takes a break from doodling to silently make a point. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky had a white legal notepad in front of him as Thursday’s impeachment trial began — and he was busy doodling. On the top page, Mr. Paul had created an extensive, and impressive, doodle of the United States Capitol. Drawn with a blue ballpoint pen, the drawing covered the entire bottom third of the paper. At one point, Representative Sylvia Garcia of Texas, a House manager, showed a video clip of George P. Kent, a State Department official, being asked whether some Republicans, like Mr. Paul, believed that what President Trump did in Ukraine was the same as what former Vice President Joseph R. Biden did when he tried to get a corrupt prosecutor fired. Looking up from his doodle, Mr. Paul smiled and raised a fist with his index finger extended, as if to say, “Yes!” Then, when Mr. Kent answered by saying that what Mr. Biden did was very different than what Mr. Trump did, Mr. Paul lowered his arm. And he went back to his doodle. Read more

Jan. 23, 2020, 2:42 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 2:42 p.m. ET By Nadler gives a history lesson in arguing that no crime is needed for impeachment. Image Representatives Adam B. Schiff of California, left, and Jerrold Nadler of New York led House impeachment managers through the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday. Credit... Erin Schaff/The New York Times Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, began the House presentation on Thursday with an hourlong lecture on the constitutional history of impeachment. He insisted that the history of the Constitution makes it clear that a criminal violation is not necessary to impeach the president. In making the argument, he cited words from some of President Trump’s key allies in his impeachment defense: Alan Dershowitz, a member of the president’s impeachment team; William P. Barr, the attorney general; and Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. He concluded his presentation with a forceful assertion to the senators: “Impeachment is aimed at presidents who act as if they are above the law, at presidents who believe their own interests are more important than those of the nation, and thus at president who ignore right and wrong in pursuit of their own gain.” “Abuse. Betrayal. Corruption,” he said. “Here are the core offenses, the framers feared most. The president’s abuse of power, his betrayal of the national interest, and his corruption of our elections plainly qualified as great and dangerous offenses.” Drawing on legal scholars and liberally quoting historical figures, Mr. Nadler argued that the founders of the nation envisioned that impeachment would be required for presidential abuses of power like the misconduct the House alleged when it passed two articles of impeachment. Read more

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Jan. 23, 2020, 2:31 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 2:31 p.m. ET By An abbreviated weekend trial schedule is possible. Image Reporters waiting near the Senate chamber as the trial continues. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times As senators settled in for another long day of arguments from the House managers, there was already talk among lawmakers and their aides of a potentially abbreviated weekend trial schedule. Under one proposal being discussed, the Senate could convene as a court of impeachment early on Saturday, around 10 a.m. and meet for a far shorter session than usual. That would theoretically allow senators who wanted to travel home — or for Democrats running for president, to campaign in early voting states — for 36 hours before the trial resumes on Monday. The Senate’s impeachment rules normally require the trial to meet every Monday to Saturday at 1 p.m. until a verdict is reached. That late daily start time is meant to accommodate Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who maintains a morning case schedule at the Supreme Court before presiding over the trial. But Chief Justice Roberts does not have court business on Saturdays. The decision may also depend on the president’s lawyers, who are scheduled to begin their defense against the House charges on Saturday. If they want to move the trial along as quickly as possible, they could ask for an early start on Saturday but also that the session be allowed to run into the evening. Or they could simply shorten their arguments. “I suspect we’ll start on Saturday, and then we’ll go, probably another day or two, but who knows,” Jay Sekulow, one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers said Wednesday night. “I mean we’ve got to make that determination, with our team.” Any change would require consent from both Democrats and Republicans. Read more

Jan. 23, 2020, 2:07 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2020, 2:07 p.m. ET By Senator Lindsey Graham misses a clip of a speech he made during Clinton’s trial in 1999. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and one of the impeachment managers in 1999, left the Senate chamber just minutes before House Democrats played a video of him speaking during President Bill Clinton’s trial. In the clip, Mr. Graham gave a broad definition of a “high crime”: “It’s just when you’re using your office in a way that hurts people, you’ve committed a high crime,” he said. One of the Republicans’ talking points is that there was no crime underlying President Trump’s conduct, therefore it was not impeachable. That argument is widely disputed. Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, who sits next to Mr. Graham on the Senate floor, briefly patted the South Carolina Republican’s empty seat as the video began to play.