Trump impeachment news - live: Senate votes against calling witnesses, setting up president's acquittal
Republicans to dictate next steps in trial after failure to subpoena evidence
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Donald Trump looks all but certain to be acquitted by the Senate as Republicans rejected a Democratic effort to force new evidence and witnesses ahead of the president's impeachment vote.
Just two Republicans broke rank to vote with Democrats in favour of further witnesses, which will likely allow Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to make good on his previous promise not to act as an impartial juror. In response, Chuck Schumer cast the results as making it impossible for Mr Trump to be truly vindicated.
"If the president is acquitted with no witnesses, no documents, the acquittal will have no value because Americans will know that this trial was not a real trial," Mr Schumer said.
Two potential swing vote Republicans, who Democrats had hoped to break from their party line and ask to hear from witnesses, ultimately decided against the proposition. Senators Lamar Alexander and Lisa Murkowski ultimately rejected the motion.
Following the vote, and his desired outcome, Mr McConnell said that the senators will "confer among ourselves, with the House managers, and with the president's counsel to determine next steps as we prepare to conclude the trial in the coming days".
Before his departure to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend as the Senate debated the next steps in his impeachment trial, the president announced an expansion of his travel ban, adding six additional countries to a list of seven others with travel restrictions under guidance from his Department of Homeland Security. Many of the impacted countries have majority Muslim populations.
The White House also announced the US will deny entry to foreign nationals attempting to enter the US within two weeks of visiting China in the wake of a rapidly developing coronavirus outbreak that has sickened thousands of people in a dozen countries.
The US has declared a national emergency as it responds to 200 quarantined people, including six infected patients, in the US.
Follow our live coverage as it happened:
Trump rape accuser asks for DNA sample from president in bid to prove allegation
Lawyers acting for E Jean Carroll - who has accused the president of raping her in the 1990s - are requesting a DNA sample to determine if his genetic material is on a dress she wore during the encounter.
The advice columnist’s lawyers served notice to a Trump attorney on Thursday asking for the president to submit a sample for “analysis and comparison against unidentified male DNA present on the dress.” They ask that a sample of saliva be submitted on 2 March in Washington, DC.
Carroll filed a defamation suit against Trump in November 2019 after the president denied her allegation saying that she was "totally lying", that he did not know her and that she was not his type.
Oliver O'Connell has this report.
God put Trump in White House, says US ambassador to Israel
David Friedman managed to be even more effusive than Benjamin Netanyahu in expressing his gratitude to Trump over his proposed plan to bring peace to the Middle East - angrily rejected by the Palestinian leadership earlier this week.
Alex Woodward has more on his comments to the Christian Broadcast Network.
Trump to create human trafficking post as key groups avoid White House summit
The president is due to address the subject of human trafficking at the White House later before jetting to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend and is expected to announce the expansion of a key domestic policy office by appointing an individual to focus exclusively on the issue.
A candidate has yet to be identified for the new post on the Domestic Policy Council, according to a White House official, who told the AP that Trump wants to fill the slot quickly with someone detailed from another government agency. Trump has sought to elevate human trafficking since taking office by speaking publicly about the issue and inviting reporters into his White House meetings with victims and anti-trafficking advocates.
A partner in the effort is Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and senior adviser. During a visit to Atlanta, Georgia, this month, she compared trafficking to "modern-day slavery" and said the White House is committed to ending it.
Ivanka Trump is also scheduled to speak at Friday's summit. She said on Thursday in a statement that the coming executive order will provide additional resources to combat human trafficking: "From funding for prevention education programs, to enhanced intelligence-level coordination, to fighting child pornography, to a new full-time position within his White House's Domestic Policy Council, the president is using all tools at his disposal to ensure that the end of modern-day slavery becomes a reality."
Under the executive order, the State Department will reportedly be tasked with creating a website to serve as a clearinghouse where law enforcement officials, victims, advocates and others can get information on government-wide efforts to combat human trafficking.
Federal departments and agencies will also be asked to propose legislative and executive actions to help law enforcement officials track the sharing - in real time - of child sexual abuse material on the internet.
The Justice and Homeland Security departments will also be directed to work with the Education Department to fund prevention education programmes for the nation's schools.
Some groups criticised the summit. Other groups that have been invited said they will not attend.
Eric Schwartz, president of Refugees International, said in a statement that the Trump administration has pursued policies that endanger trafficking victims by chipping away at their legal protections. Schwartz cited an increase in the denial rate for special visas that allow trafficking victims to legalize their status, access services and seek punishment for their abusers.
John Delaney dropping out of 2020 race
The Maryland congressman has become the latest name to drop out of the Democratic 2020 race, saying "God has a different purpose for me" and not even waiting for Monday's Iowa caucus.
Ah well, we'll always have this photo.
Nancy Pelosi calls for Trump's legal team to be disbarred
As Trump's legal team look to have prevailed in the Senate, it's worth revisiting Nancy Pelosi's remarks to journalists yesterday at her weekly press conference.
While she expressed pride in the performance of her own impeachment managers, the speaker said of the president: "He will not be acquitted. You cannot be acquitted if you don’t have a trial. You don’t have a trial if you don’t have witnesses and documentation and all of that. Does the president know right from wrong? I don't think so.”
On his lawyers specifically - Dershowitz, Pat Cipollone, Jay Sekulow, Ken Starr, Robert Ray, Pat Philbin and Pam Bondi - Pelosi said ought to be disbarred for their disingenuous arguments: "I don't know how they can retain their lawyer status, in the comments that they're making. I don't think they made the case. I think they disgraced themselves terribly in terms of their violation of what our Constitution is about and what a president's behavior should be."
“Imagine that you would say - ever, of any president, no matter who he or she is or whatever party - if the president thinks that his or her presidency... is good for the country, then any action is justified - including encouraging a foreign government to have an impact on our elections," she continued.
“[That] is exactly what our Founders were opposed to - and they feared. I don't think they made the case. I think they disgraced themselves terribly in terms of their violation of what our Constitution is about and what a president's behavior should be.”
Trump repurposes trial clip to claim rift between Democratic impeachment managers
The president's first tweet of the day is this childish attempt to play his opposition off against each other.
He's now launching into one of his tiresome retweet dumps.
The New York Daily News meanwhile has this stellar front page this morning summing it up the current state of play.
Joe Biden: 'George Washington is rolling over in his grave'
The Democratic front-runner gave an exclusive interview to George Stephanopoulos on ABC this morning and did not mince his words on the Republicans.
He also defended himself over claims of a contradiction between his current line of attack and his attitude during the Bill Clinton impeachment of 1999 and pledged to back whichever Democrat's win their party's nomination to take on Trump.
President firefights disastrous border wall story
Yesterday we learned that a section of Trump's US-Mexico border wall had blown over in El Centro, California, after being blasted by desert winds, making a nonsense of his hyberbolic claims about its sturdiness.
The president sought to counter the resulting mockery on Twitter yesterday by posting a series of images of construction underway. The wall was of course a signature campaign promise in 2016 and his failure to raise it in time won't look good to supporters promised an immigration crackdown last time out.
Here's Andy Gregory on the original incident.
Lamar Alexander: Trump guilty of 'error or judgement' but does not deserve impeachment
The retiring Tenessee senator who appears to have driven the final nail into the coffin of Democratic hopes to see Trump removed from office has been elaborating on his statement of last night in conversation with reporters in DC.
"I concluded after nine long days, and hearing 200 video clips of witnesses from the House, I didn't need any more evidence, because I thought it was proof the President did what he was charged with doing, but it didn't rise to the level of an impeachable offense. I didn't need any more evidence to make my decision," he said.
"I thought about it, but I wanted to wait until the very last minute because around here you never know what might happen. You might get a surprise during the question and answer period."
(Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty)
"Impeachable conduct is a very high bar," he continued. "It's treason, bribery, it's high crimes and misdemeanors. And to me, an error in judgement, an inappropriate and improper telephone call or action doesn't add up to treason, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors.
Alexander said he thinks it was "inappropriate and wrong for the president to do what he did - and I think it was proved. The question is whether you apply capital punishment to every offense. And I think in this case, I think the answer is no, let the people make that decision... and especially since the election begins Monday."
Monica Lewinsky derides Republicans over trial hypocrisy
The former White House intern offers this bitterly sarcastic take on the GOP's cynicism over impeachment witnesses, especially galling for her personally as Ken Starr is on Team Trump this time around.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies