Monday 3rd February 2020

The final impeachment vote is near
Here's a look at the big week ahead
Washington (CNN)

The Senate impeachment trial may be over after this week, but its legacy will have lasting consequences for American generations to come
And Donald Trump, only the third president to be impeached in US history, isn't expected to apologize for any of it ... as President Bill Clinton had after his own impeachment
So, where's the closure for a divided country?
Well, Democrats and Republicans alike think it could come in November's presidential election, but we've got to get through this week before we can even begin to think about all that
After a contentious and relatively quick Senate trial, the Republican majority is set to acquit Trump of the two articles of impeachment on a mostly party line vote at 4pmET on Wednesday
The vote will punctuate a busy week in the Democratic primary and follow a highly anticipated State of the Union address from the President

Here's a look at the week ahead
Monday - Iowans cast the first major votes of 2020 during the state's caucuses
Meanwhile in Washington, house managers and the President's defense team will deliver closing arguments in the Senate trial
Tuesday -- Trump will give his State of the Union address in the House chamber at 9pmET
Wednesday -- The Senate is expected to hold the final impeachment vote to acquit Trump at 4pmET
Friday -- 2020 Democrats face off in New Hampshire in the final debate before the state's February 11 primary

"We are the jury tomorrow"
Ahead of Trump's anticipated acquittal, presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is seeking to shift Democratic energy away from the impeachment trial saga and toward the 2020 campaign as a focal point for defeating Trump
"As upsetting as what's going on in the Senate is, the thing that I'm always reminding voters of, especially in these closing days of the Iowa caucuses, is that yeah, the Senate is the jury today, but we are the jury tomorrow and we get to send a message at the ballot box that cheating, lying, involving a foreign country in our own domestic politics -- not to mention abuse of power more broadly and a bad administration -- that that's not okay, that we can do better," Buttigieg told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union"
Buttigieg said Sunday that he thinks Republican senators "know better" and that "the only shock waves that will reunite them with their conscience is a thumping at the ballot box for Donald Trump and those who supported him"
Buttigieg, much like the other candidates in the crowded Democratic field, is pitching himself as the person to beat the President come November
"That's why it is so important right now, beginning tomorrow even here in Iowa, that we have a candidate, a nominee, a campaign that can deliver that, that can bring together that American majority that is ready for something completely different from a presidency like Donald Trump's," he said

Republicans delicately navigate Trump criticism
Republican Sen Joni Ernst on Sunday defended Trump asking Ukraine to investigate his potential 2020 rival, but said he did so "maybe in the wrong manner"
"Generally speaking going after corruption would be the right thing to do, he did it maybe in the wrong manner," the Iowa Republican told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union"
"But I think he could have done it through different channels
Now this is the argument ... that he should have probably gone to the Department of Justice, he should have worked through the entities, but he chose a different route"
For months, Republicans have generally refrained from criticizing Trump's actions involving Ukraine, but some have begun to concede that he may have acted improperly
Still, the party has remained largely aligned with the President, arguing Trump's behavior does not rise to the threshold necessary to remove him from office in the Senate impeachment trial
Ernst on Ukraine call -- Trump 'knows now' to use proper channels

Ernst's comments were echoed by Tennessee Republican Sen Lamar Alexander who called Trump's actions regarding Ukraine "inappropriate"
But Lamar said that "what he did is a long way from treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors"
"I think he shouldn't have done it
I think it was wrong
Inappropriate was the way I'd say -- improper, crossing the line
And then the only question left is who decides what to do about that" Alexander said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press"
"I think what he did is a long way from treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors
I don't think it's the kind of inappropriate action that the framers would expect the Senate to substitute its judgment for the people in picking a president"

John Bolton subpoena ??
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff declined on Sunday to say whether the House will subpoena former national security adviser John Bolton after the bombshell revelations of his unpublished draft manuscript first reported by the New York Times
Schiff, the leading impeachment manager, did caution that "the truth will come out" in one form or another
"I don't want to comment to this point on what our plans may or may not be with respect to John Bolton, but I will say this
Whether it's before -- in testimony before the House -- or it's in his forthcoming book or it's in one form or another, the truth will come out and will continue to come out," Schiff said in an interview with CBS when asked if the chamber would subpoena the former Trump administration official

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