The Note: Trump, McConnell tag team to keep witnesses from trial

The impeachment trial has brought the Senate full circle this week.

ByRick Klein and MaryAlice Parks
January 30, 2020, 6:01 AM

The TAKE with Rick Klein

The impeachment trial has brought the Senate full circle this week. But it didn't get there on its own.

The unlikely, unwieldy and often uneasy alliance of President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has the Senate impeachment trial moving toward a conclusion with witnesses not feeling likely.

Trump's contradictions and attacks haven't always looked wise in the moment. But combined with McConnell's maneuvers and his sense of his caucus, even stunning new information and head-scratchers from Trump surrogates haven't moved the Senate needle.

Trump attorney Alan Dershowitz said a whole lot about both the defense and the mindset of the Republican Party with this argument: "If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment."

PHOTO: President Donald Trump talks to the press as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell looks on after the Republican luncheon at the Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 9, 2019.
President Donald Trump talks to the press as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell looks on after the Republican luncheon at the Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 9, 2019.
Olivier Douliery/Pool/Getty Images, FILE

Likewise, the president's turn on his former national security adviser John Bolton has been simultaneously shocking and not at all surprising. It has taken approximately no convincing for the Republican National Committee, Rudy Giuliani and other Republican entities to turn their fire on Bolton.

With no realistic shot at conviction and removal, Democrats may be pleased to move on from impeachment and focus on defeating Trump that other way -- via Monday's Iowa caucuses and beyond.

But Democrats came into the trial searching for four Republicans to join them in seeking additional witnesses and testimony. They're still looking for four -- and basically the same four -- because of two Republicans in particular.

The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks

Outside money is playing an outsized role in the final days before the Iowa caucuses.

According to data analytics team Kantar/CMAG, the super PAC supporting former Vice President Joe Biden has spent more money on television ads in the early voting state than his official campaign. As promised, those ads have steered clear of attacking other Democrats -- so far -- and instead have focused on boosting Biden.

PHOTO: Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event, Jan. 27, 2020, in Iowa City, Iowa.
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event, Jan. 27, 2020, in Iowa City, Iowa.
Matt Rourke/AP, FILE

The former vice president himself has been taking hits in ads from outside groups too.

"It's simple. They're smearing me to try to stop me and they know if I'm the nominee I'm gonna beat Donald Trump like a drum," Biden told reporters, responding to the new ads from Republican-backed groups that question whether the impeachment trial on Capitol Hill could hurt his ability to win.

Asked if he thought Sen. Bernie Sanders too could beat the president, Biden said Wednesday that he thought "anyone" could.

It's true, hypothetical general election polls show both Biden and Sanders with slim margins over Trump at this early stage, though their teams clearly see different paths to winning. Sanders appeals to young people by huge margins, but struggles with older voters and vice versa for Biden.

Sanders though got some love from his opponent Andrew Yang overnight. Yang told reporters that while he is "nowhere" near starting a conversation about endorsing another candidate, he thinks his supporters "would naturally head to Bernie."

The TIP with Sasha Pezenik

Four senators are sitting when they'd rather be running. Sens. Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bennet have all been pulled from their campaigns and into the impeachment trial of a man they're looking to unseat. And, they're now faced with a catch-22: if they demand testimony from Bolton and other witnesses, they'll prolong the trial and preempt their return to the trail.

"I have to be here and I will be here. I'm doing my job. If you're asking me would I rather be campaigning and in Iowa in the last week, I would," Sanders told reporters Wednesday, prompting the question of whether he and his fellow 2020ers could be stuck there even come caucus day.

"Ask Mitch McConnell," Warren said Wednesday on the Hill. "If the trial's going on, I'm going to be here."

Meanwhile, candidates who have Iowa all to themselves are sympathetic -- "I feel terrible for them, I know they want to be here," Yang said from Des Moines. But hamstrung by the scales of justice, the four senators' primary fate now rests in the hands of two opposing parties: their Hawkeye doorknockers and the GOP.

PHOTO: Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks with reporters during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 29, 2020.
Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks with reporters during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 29, 2020.
Patrick Semansky/AP

THE PLAYLIST

ABC News' "Start Here" Podcast. Thursday morning's episode features ABC News contributor and former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., who talks about the first day of questioning in the Senate impeachment trial and the likelihood of new witnesses. Then, ABC News Political Director Rick Klein discusses Sen. Bernie Sanders' surging poll numbers in Iowa and what it means for the Democratic primary race. "He could win this thing and it could start in Iowa and New Hampshire," Klein says. http://apple.co/2HPocUL

ABC News' "Powerhouse Politics" podcast. Political attention is divided these days and will remain so, particularly as uncertainty about witnesses leaves the possibility of the Senate impeachment trial spilling into voting season. https://bit.ly/2w091jE

FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast. To better understand what it's really like to run for office as a woman, we spoke to women from every state who have done it -- 97 women in all. These are their stories.https://apple.co/23r5y7w

ONE MORE THING

What happens when a 22-year-old first-time candidate -- a woman and a person of color to boot -- enters the world of local politics in her Ohio hometown? Tiffany "Tiff" Piko, who makes a living selling used clothing online, made history in her hometown last fall when she became the first woman on the ballot for mayor of Lancaster, Ohio. ABC's "Good Morning America" followed the mayoral campaign of the recent college graduate who wanted to change her community and the world with big ideas about "sustainability" and "inclusivity."

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

  • President Donald Trump will travel to Michigan where he will tour Dana Incorporated at 3:35 p.m., then he will speak about the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement at 4:20 p.m. in Warren, Michigan. He will then travel to Des Moines, Iowa, where he and Vice President Mike Pence will speak at a campaign rally at Drake University beginning at 6:30 p.m. (CST)
  • Pence will also speak at an event in Sioux City, Iowa, at 9:30 a.m. (CST), and then deliver remarks at an event in Council Bluffs, Iowa, at 1:30 p.m.
  • Tom Steyer continues his bus tour with a town hall in Burlington, Iowa, at 8:30 a.m. (CST), a town hall in Muscatine, Iowa, at 11:30 a.m. and a town hall in Davenport, Iowa, at 6 p.m.
  • The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) will hold a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa, to announce the results of their Latino voter outreach efforts at 9:30 a.m. (CST).
  • Andrew Yang continues his bus tour with a town hall in Washington, Iowa, at 10 a.m. (CST), a town hall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at 2:30 p.m., a town hall in Dubuque, Iowa, at 5 p.m. and a town hall in Cedar Falls, Iowa, at 7:30 p.m.
  • Former Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., will hold a door-knocking event in Muscatine, Iowa, at 10 a.m. (CST), have lunch at a family restaurant in Muscatine, Iowa, at 1:30 p.m., hold a door-knocking event at 2 p.m. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and have dinner in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at 5 p.m.
  • Former Vice President Joe Biden continues his bus tour with a community event in Waukee, Iowa, at 10:30 a.m. (CST), a community event in Newton, Iowa at 1:45 p.m. and a campaign stop in Ottumwa, Iowa, at 5:45 p.m.
  • Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg holds a town hall in Decorah, Iowa, at 11 a.m. (CST), a town hall in Independence, Iowa, at 1:30 p.m., a town hall in Marshalltown, Iowa, at 4 p.m., and a town hall in Ankeny, Iowa, at 7 p.m.
  • Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick begins a bus tour with a kickoff event in Manchester, New Hampshire, at 11 a.m., a town hall in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and a forum with ACLU New Hampshire in Concord, New Hampshire, at 6:30 p.m.
  • The Senate impeachment trial will resume at 1 p.m.
  • Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg will give a speech about affordable housing in Washington at 1 p.m.
  • Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, holds a town hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at 6 p.m.

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