US split as country awaits 2nd Trump impeach trial
As the nation braces for Donald Trump’s 2nd impeachment trial, only half of Americans believe the Senate should vote to convict former president, that’s despite a majority saying he bears at least some blame for the Capitol insurrection Jan. 6. (Feb. 5)
Democrats have been wrestling with whether to push for a quick trial or include witnesses, which could lengthen the proceedings by weeks or months. Some Democrats are eager to call witnesses for an exhaustive review of the Capitol riot Jan. 6. But other Democrats want to move quickly beyond the trial, to confirming President Joe Biden’s nominees and working on spending legislation for COVID-19.
The trial is historic in several ways. Trump was the first president to be impeached twice and will be the first to be tried after leaving office. Senators who will be jurors were also witnesses to the insurrection as they evacuated the chamber, which was occupied by rioters.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., negotiated the bipartisan framework with House managers and Trump’s defense team.
The framework calls for four hours of debate Tuesday about whether the case should be dismissed. Trump’s defense team argues that the trial is unconstitutional because he already left office.
The Senate must still vote on the resolution that Schumer outlined.
But the Senate has already rejected a point of order about whether the trial was unconstitutional, on a 55-45 vote. Congressional Democrats cited precedents about trials of a Cabinet secretary and judges after they left office.
If case isn’t dismissed, the trial continues Wednesday with House prosecutors, who are called managers, and Trump’s defense team each having 16 hours for arguments.
“Each side will have ample time to make their arguments,” Schumer said.
After both sides complete their arguments, House managers could make a contentious request for witnesses. Most Republicans and some Democrats say witnesses would greatly prolong the trial. But some Democrats want a thorough trial.
Schumer said the Senate would honor a request from one of Trump’s lawyers, David Schoen, to avoid working on the Sabbath, so the trial won’t continue after Friday sundown through Saturday. The trial could resume Sunday afternoon, if it lasts that long.
— Bart Jansen
House Democrats replied Monday to former President Donald Trump’s written argument for his Senate impeachment trial by calling it “wholly without merit.”
Trump’s defense team had argued that the trial, with oral arguments beginning Tuesday, was unconstitutional because he is no longer in office. The defense also argued that Trump’s speech Jan. 6 was protected by the First Amendment, despite the House charge that he incited insurrection at the Capitol.
The House reply called Trump’s reliance on the First Amendment “baseless.” The Democrats again cited Trump’s statement to a crowd – “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country any more” – before the mob siege to the Capitol.
Trump’s team said the House’s article of impeachment was flawed because it contained multiple allegations behind a single charge. But House Democrats said they described a “single course of conduct” that constituted incitement.
“There must be no doubt that such conduct is categorically unacceptable,” the House reply said.
— Bart Jansen
Trump’s attorneys attacks Democrats ahead of impeachment trial, call case ‘political theater’
Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys on Monday laid out their defense to the impeachment article charging the former president with inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In the 78-page filing, they argue the case is unconstitutional, would violate Trump’s First Amendment rights, and is based on cherry-picked facts and remarks.
Trump’s legal team also argued the House’s impeachment process was rushed, pointing out the chamber impeached him a week after the attack at the U.S. Capitol and before any investigation had started. The team argued the speed did not allow Trump due process
“This rushed, single article of impeachment ignores the very Constitution from which its power comes and is itself defectively drafted,” the brief states. “The Article of Impeachment presented by the House is unconstitutional for a variety of reasons, any of which alone would be grounds for immediate dismissal. Taken together, they demonstrate conclusively that indulging House Democrats hunger for this political theater is a danger to our Republic democracy and the rights that we hold dear.”
The brief argues the president did not incite the crowd during his speech the day of the attack, noting law enforcement has said the attack was planned ahead of time. The lawyers argue Trump’s words about “fighting” the election have been used by before and they outline remarks top Democrats have used over the years about protesting and fighting against Trump’s policies.
The brief also lists one new member of Trump’s legal team: Philadelphia attorney Michael T. van der Veen. The attorney, who heads a law firm and specializes in personal injury and criminal defense cases, works with fellow Trump attorney Bruce Castor. The addition marks the third attorney to join Trump’s team, far less than the 10 who represented him during his first impeachment trial last year.
– Christal Hayes
White House: Trump hasn’t requested classified intelligence
The Biden administration hasn’t had to decide whether to bar former President Donald Trump from receiving classified materials because Trump hasn’t asked for an intelligence briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.
If Trump does request a briefing, Psaki said, the president will let his intelligence team decide how to proceed.
“There is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings,” Biden said on the CBS Evening News With Norah O’Donnell. “What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?”
Former presidents are frequently given routine intelligence briefings and access to classified materials after they leave office. But some Democratic lawmakers have questioned whether Trump should continue to receive the reports, arguing he could pose a national security risk.
Psaki said Biden was expressing his concern about Trump receiving access to sensitive intelligence, “but he also has deep trust in his own intelligence team to make a determination about how to provide intelligence information, if at any point the former president requests a briefing.”
“So that’s not currently applicable,” she added. “But if he should request a briefing, he leaves it to them to make a determination.”
– Maureen Groppe and Michael Collins
Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby announces retirement in 2022
“Today I announce that I will not seek a seventh term in the United States Senate in 2022. For everything, there is a season,” Shelby said in a statement. “I am grateful to the people of Alabama who have put their trust in me for more than forty years.”
Shelby, 86, is the Senate’s fourth most senior member. He was elected to the Senate in 1986 and has spent the last two years as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, before Democrats gained control of the chamber in the last election.
Today I announce that I will not seek a seventh term in the Senate in 2022. For everything, there is a season. I am grateful to the people of Alabama who have put their trust in me for more than forty years. https://t.co/UXNJyc3OPC
“Although I plan to retire, I am not leaving today,” he said in the statement. “I have two good years remaining to continue my work in Washington. I have the vision and the energy to give it my all.”
– Savannah Behrmann
Report: $15 per hour minimum wage would cost 1.4 million jobs
A new government report concludes that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour would cause 1.4 million Americans to lose their jobs but would lift 900,000 people out of poverty.
Higher wages would increase the cost of producing goods and services and cause employers to reduce their workforce, the Congressional Budget Office says in a report that examined the impact of boosting the minimum wage.
By 2025, when the hourly minimum wage would hit $15 under a proposal before Congress, some 1.4 million Americans would be out of work, the report concludes. Young, less educated people would account for a disproportionate share of the job reductions, the report says.
President Joe Biden advocated for raising for the minimum wage during his campaign last year and has proposed boosting the hourly rate to $15 as part of his COVID-19 relief package. Congressional Republicans, however, largely object to raising the minimum wage.
Biden conceded last week that the minimum wage proposal is unlikely to survive as part of his COVID-relief bill. “Apparently, that’s not going to occur,” he said in an interview with CBS Evening News With Norah O’Donnell.
Biden told O’Donnell he is prepared to negotiate a separate proposal to boost the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
– Michael Collins
Rep. Ron Wright, R-Texas, dies after contracting COVID-19
Rep. Ron Wright, R-Texas, died Sunday, according to a statement released by his campaign, weeks after testing positive for COVID-19. He was 67.
Wright, a second-term congressman from a district sprawling from Arlington to rural areas south of Dallas, announced he had tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 21. He had also been undergoing treatment for lung cancer. Wright is the first sitting member of Congress to die after contracting COVID-19.
“His wife Susan was by his side and he is now in the presence of their Lord and Savior,” his campaign said. He and his wife had been in the hospital for the last two weeks, his campaign said.
Wright has three children and nine grandchildren, according to his official biography.
– Nicholas Wu
Senate to decide contours of Trump impeachment trial
With oral arguments in the Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump scheduled to start Tuesday, senators face key decisions on how to arrange the trial, including the crucial question of whether to call witnesses.
Witnesses could help House Democrats prosecuting the case chronicle the insurrection Jan. 6 at the Capitol that Trump is charged with inciting. Some Senate Democrats, including Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, who was sworn in after the riot, are eager to hear as much detail as possible.
“I want a clear record for future generations about what happened on Jan. 6,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate. “When I read that 40% of Trump’s followers believe that antifa was actually in the group that motivated these people to act in a terrorist way, I’m outraged.”
House Democrats are expected to play videos of Trump’s speech, the mob smashing into the Capitol and rioters occupying the Senate chamber. Police officers could offer harrowing witness testimony. Beyond the events of Jan. 6, the article charged Trump with pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to change overturn the election results in his state based on a recorded phone call. Prosecutors could at least play the recording, but might also want to call him as a witness.
House prosecutors, who are called managers, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., asked last week for Trump to testify under oath. He declined, with his lawyers calling the request a publicity stunt.
Witnesses could also prolong a trial that members of both parties want over quickly. Democrats are eager to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominees and to adopt legislation dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. All but a handful of Republicans in each chamber opposed even holding a trial.
“I don’t think the country needs a whole lot,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who noted that House Democrats approved the article of impeachment without calling witnesses. “I guess the public record is your television screen, I don’t know.”
The decision on witnesses will be part of the Senate debate on a resolution organizing details about the trial such as how much time each side has for arguments. For Trump’s first trial, the Senate, then led by Republicans, voted to reject calling witnesses. At that time, House Democrats wanted witnesses to explain Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, but Senate Republicans refused.
In addition to the organizing resolution, the Senate is set to receive Monday the most detailed written argument yet from Trump’s defense team responding to a House brief filed last week. Trump’s team has called the trial unconstitutional for pursuing him after he left office. The team also argued that the speech Trump gave Jan. 6 before the mob rampaged through the Capitol was protected by the First Amendment.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
