That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
Lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff proposed limiting witness depositions in the Senate trial to one week, mirroring Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial.
Senate Republicans appear increasingly confident they will be able to block witness testimony in the trial, which will come up for a vote tomorrow.
Some Democratic senators are calling on Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts to break a tie on witness testimony if the final vote is 50-50, but it seems unlikely Roberts would take such a step.
Roberts declined to read a question from Rand Paul that named the alleged whistleblower whose complaint sparked the impeachment inquiry. But a group of Republican senators later submitted a similar question with the alleged whistleblower’s name removed, which Roberts did read.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi said an acquittal would not vindicate Trump if the trial did not include witness testimony, an argument that will likely be repeated by many Democrats in the days to come.
Trump impeachment trial: key Republican senator says she will oppose witnesses – live
* Lisa Murkowski says she will vote against calling witnesses * Book says Trump told Bolton to help pressure Ukraine * Help us cover the critical issues of 2020. Consider making a contribution
LIVE Updated 10m ago
Trump senate impeachment trial continues – watch live
Joan E Greve in Washington (now) and Paul Owen (earlier)
Fri 31 Jan 2020 15.13 EST First published on Fri 31 Jan 2020 05.46 EST
55m ago Impeachment trial reportedly headed for final vote on Wednesday 1h ago John Kelly says trial without witnesses is 'half a trial' 1h ago Republican senators say Trump's actions were wrong but don't merit removal 2h ago Schiff references latest Times report on Bolton 2h ago Murkowski says 'Congress has failed' 2h ago Murkowski is a 'no' on witnesses 2h ago Impeachment trial resumes
10m ago 15:13 As the impeachment trial remains in recess, here’s a bit of election news: the Democratic National Committee has announced it is changing the qualifying requirements for the Feb. 19 debate. The new qualifications could allow billionaire Michael Bloomberg to participate in the debate.
The AP reports:
- The party announced Friday three different ways for candidates to reach the debate stage that involve reaching certain polling thresholds or banking a convention delegate in the first two nominating contests held in Iowa and New Hampshire. All previous debates have included a fundraising element, and since September, candidates have had to reach both polling thresholds and grassroots fundraising marks. Bloomberg, a former New York City mayor, has not yet hit the polling marks, but he will have until Feb. 18, the day before the debate, to do so — a prospect that pleases some rivals and incenses others.
Under the DNC rules, candidates have multiple paths to the stage: reach 10% support in some combination of four national polls or early state polls from Nevada or South Carolina; reach 12% support in two polls from Nevada or South Carolina or both; or bank a convention delegate in Iowa or New Hampshire, which host the first two nominating votes in early February. -
The announcement quickly sparked backlash, with Democratic advisers and strategists claiming the change would unfairly benefit Bloomberg.
“Now, at this late hour, to change the rules to accommodate a billionaire who wants to buy his way into the party would be unconscionable,” said Jeff Weaver, a senior adviser to Bernie Sanders. “No one should be allowed to buy their way onto the debate stage or the nomination.”
A former executive director of the congressional progressive caucus argued the change was meant to harm the prospects of tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang:
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