Up until now, lead House Manager Adam Schiff has elicited some of the only audible responses to his answers — groans from Republican senators yesterday when Schiff noted Dershowitz was “the only scholar” making the argument that the president’s actions to get re-elected were “in the public interest.” Today he conjured up more reactions on the Senate floor when he answered a question by noting that today, in contrast to what has been going on in the chamber, the Justice Department is arguing in federal court that Congress can use impeachment to enforce subpoenas.
“You can’t make this stuff up,” Schiff said to audible laughter from senators.“While we’ve been debating whether a president can be impeached for essentially bogus claims of privilege for attempting to use the courts to cover up misconduct, the Justice Department, in resisting House subpoenas, is in court today,” he explained, continuing, “So the judge says if the Congress can’t enforce its subpoenas in court then what remedy is there? And the Justice Department lawyers’ response is impeachment. Impeachment!”
“I didn’t think they’d do this on the same day,” Schiff said.
Schiff today has fought back against the expansive view of executive power the president’s defense team has put forward. “What we have seen over the last couple days is a descent into constitutional madness,” Schiff told senators.
Senators remain on the Senate floor asking questions to House Managers and defense lawyers, which are read aloud by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Thursday’s round of questioning wraps up the allotted 16 hours of question and answer time, and on Friday, senators will hold the key vote to decide whether to allow the submission of documents and testimony from witnesses. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is working to whip 51 senators in order to avoid that and quickly allow an up or down vote on the two articles of impeachment. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will try to delay the final vote.
McConnell and Schumer sit, literally, across the aisle in the Senate chamber and, though Schumer has been nodding along and reacting to questions asked, McConnell has largely remained in the exact same seated position for hours of testimony: sitting back from his desk, with his arms crossed across his stomach and his mouth set.
Highlights from the early hours of Thursday’s debate included one of the few interjections from the Chief Justice who refused to read aloud Sen. Rand Paul’s question that reportedly included the name of the alleged whistleblower whose complaint led to the impeachment inquiry. After that, Paul was followed by several reporters to a press conference where he read the question aloud.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Donald Trump has a message for critics who think turning the U.S. government into a major stockholder of Intel is a “socialist” move: More is coming.
Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook's lawyer says she'll sue President Donald Trump's administration to try to prevent him from firing her. Longtime Washington attorney Abbe Lowell said Tuesday that Trump “has no authority to remove” Cook. If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the Fed's board of governors, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables the Fed to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. The Republican president said Monday he was removing Cook because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud. Cook was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022 and says she won't step down.
Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook late Wednesday said she wouldn’t leave her post after Trump on social media called on her to resign over an accusation from one his officials that she committed mortgage fraud.
