The latest news, before we go quiet for the holidays.
Welcome back to the Impeachment Briefing. With the halls of Congress empty for the holidays, we’re going on a break. But first, a quick rundown of the day’s news. |
- Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited President Trump to give the State of the Union address on Feb. 4, a customary gesture that is noteworthy this year because of the animosity between the two leaders over impeachment — and because it could mean the president gives the speech at the same time as he being tried before the Senate. Mr. Trump accepted the invitation.
- When (or perhaps if?) the Senate holds its trial, it would require a two-thirds majority to remove Mr. Trump from office. Right now, like in the House, opinion seems to be split down party lines. Here’s a look at what every Senator has said about impeachment.
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- Christianity Today, a prominent evangelical magazine, called for Mr. Trump to be removed from office in a blistering editorial — the most notable example of dissent among the religious conservative base. But Franklin Graham, a Trump supporter and the son of the magazine’s founder, Billy Graham, said the editorial was “not going to change anybody’s mind about Trump.”
- If Mr. Trump is not removed from office, he will be the first impeached president to face re-election, giving him a chance to mitigate the sting of impeachment that Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton never had. His political operation is already mounting a counterassault.
- Two items from our Opinion pages: Jim Sensenbrenner, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin, explains why he voted against impeachment; and a Yale history professor explains how many of the factors that doomed Richard Nixon — like the courts and the Justice Department — worked to protect Mr. Trump.
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We’ll be back in two weeks — or earlier, if there’s big news you need to know. Thanks for reading, and happy holidays! |
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