Members of the ABC News team open up their reporter notebooks and give their impressions and insights from the front lines of impeachment.
, McConnell - known for his deft skills at whipping a vote - was able to wrangle his GOP conference to agree to voting after opening arguments and questions.
Whether Schumer planted a seed that will bear fruit remains to be seen. That will play out over the weeks and months ahead as we head toward what could be a pivotal election. House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff D-CA arrives for closing statement during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill, Feb. 3, 2020.The House managers took their role extremely seriously. Prior to the start of the trial, the managers met every morning in a tucked away room on the first floor of the Capitol.
Reporters reach out with their cell phones and audio recorders trying to get a statement from republican Sen. Lamar Alexander as he passes by during a recess in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on Jan. 30, 2020, in Washington. Alexander stated during the day that he would vote against witnesses appearing in the trial.
Minutes before Sen. Lamar Alexander took any notion of calling witnesses off the table by announcing he would vote no to call any, Mark Meadows, one of the president's closest allies, told me as the elevator door was shutting"I don't know" how he was going to vote -- with a tone of cautious optimism, but uncomfortable uncertainty, echoing that sentiment I had heard from my White House sources.
Does he turn the Senate chamber into a reality television show with his most outspoken defenders in the House presenting his defense on the Senate floor or does he defer to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's decorum? Ultimately, no House members made the cut, instead working with the lawyers in a"war room" off the Senate floor on their messaging -- impeachment surrogates in a sense, who would speak to reporters during the breaks.
In this screengrab, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone speaks in the Senate Chamber in defense of President Trump during his impeachment trial at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 25, 2020, in Washington.In the days leading up to the trial, the president was on the phone with confidants asking how they thought Cipollone would perform, what about the others like Philbin and Purpura, who are more measured lawyers who most certainly were not going to present in ways like Sekulow and Cipollone.
Sources close to the president acknowledge there is a general sense of “what will he do next” which creates some worry. But for now, a sense of relief. In the words of Sekulow, “the president won.”Senators vote during the impeachment trial of President Trump, Feb. 5, 2020, in Washington, DC.Throughout the trial, I was fortunate to report from a first-row seat in the Senate balcony press gallery, looking down on 100 senators fidgeting in their desks.
The Decorum Guidelines for Senate Trial state that “Reading materials should be confined to only those readings which pertain to the matter before the Senate” but apparently Sen. Rand Paul missed the memo. During the early days of the trial, I repeatedly spied the senator using a piece of paper to cover the crossword, but he had the clues uncovered to the left. When he was prepared to write an answer, he briefly moved the paper concealing the crossword, revealing a breach in decorum.
The president’s acquittal seemed predestined – as the lead House manager, Rep. Adam Schiff, ultimately conceded that the 67-vote threshold for conviction was “prohibitively high” during his closing argument on Monday. Clusters of journalists peppered the lawmakers with questions about the president’s conduct and the potential consequences of an acquittal or conviction.“Would an acquittal send the message it’s okay for a president to use the power of the office to conduct opposition research?” I asked Indiana Sen. Mike Braun, one of the president’s staunchest defenders.Sen. Mike Braun arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Feb.
“There’s no appetite in the caucus for that right now,” he said flatly when asked by another reporter about his censure comments. “This process has been trying enough.” “I hadn't heard nothing about that. It has not come up with any of our lunches and our discussions has not been discussed at all,” added Sen. John Barrasso, the Republican Conference Chair, standing by Braun’s side.Defenders of the president first insisted his conduct was “perfect” -- nothing wrong.
Sen. Mitt Romney walks outside the Senate chamber during a recess in the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 28, 2020, in Washington.The third impeachment in American history was largely a shining moment for Republican unity standing solidly behind their president – with one exception: Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah.
President Donald Trump walks from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, before his departure to Michigan and Iowa, Jan. 30, 2020.By ABC News White House Producer Ben Gittleson While Trump limited his in-person interactions with reporters, his Twitter feed told a different story. Hundreds of tweets and retweets about impeachment – some inflammatory attacks on Democrats – gave a window into his mind and his frequently changing strategy.
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