Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, assembly with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in Kyiv on Friday.Credit score...Pool picture by Kevin
KYIV, Ukraine — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated Friday that the Trump administration was dedicated to supporting Ukraine in its protection towards aggression by Russia, although he didn’t supply President Volodymyr Zelensky the one factor he has sought since final Could: an invite to satisfy President Trump on the White Home.
Mr. Pompeo’s go to was aimed toward calming unease amongst Ukrainian officers in regards to the relationship between Washington and Kyiv, which has been thrust into the highlight due to the impeachment of Mr. Trump.
An invite to satisfy Mr. Trump on the White Home could be an essential sign to Russia of American assist for Ukraine. Mr. Pompeo’s message that Mr. Trump had no fast plans to obtain Mr. Zelensky on the White Home was a blow to the Ukrainian president’s nationwide safety efforts.
Ukrainian officers are indignant that the Individuals have granted Russia’s overseas minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, two visits with Mr. Trump in the White House, most lately in December.
In renewing his request for a gathering Friday, Mr. Zelensky stated, “If there’s something we will negotiate and focus on, and if I can carry one thing again dwelling, I’m able to go right away.”
Friday’s session may very well be definitive, most probably capped by a vote on whether or not to listen to new witnesses like the previous nationwide safety adviser John R. Bolton and think about new proof. However after that vote, which Republicans are assured might be rejected, issues in President Trump’s impeachment trial may grow to be just a little messy. Nicholas Fandos, a congressional correspondent for The New York Occasions, walked me by what to anticipate.
The trial will resume at 1 p.m., however with a brand new form: There might be 4 hours of debate, cut up between the Home managers and Mr. Trump’s attorneys, on the query of witnesses. We’ll most probably hear Adam Schiff speaking yet another time about why they should hear from Mr. Bolton and others. The president’s attorneys will say that should you go down that path, it’ll open up a Pandora’s field and maintain the trial going for weeks extra.
After the conclusion of that debate, one thing uncommon may occur: Senators may transfer into a personal deliberation, the place they shut the doorways, kick reporters out of the Senate press gallery and switch off cameras. However that’s unlikely, principally as a result of we already understand how Republicans will vote.
Then, within the late afternoon or early night, the vote on whether or not to contemplate witnesses and paperwork will happen. Keep in mind: It’s a vote about whether or not they even need to permit the Senate to contemplate calling witnesses, not a vote on the witnesses themselves. If the vote fails, the trial is, for all intents and functions, heading towards a conclusion.
If the Senate does vote to contemplate witnesses — a giant “if,” contemplating we just about know the votes — then we’ll be in an unsure interval the place the 2 authorized groups can supply motions on particular individuals and paperwork, and every one will get a vote. It will open up a free-for-all through which Democrats may maintain demanding votes. The president’s attorneys may demand votes, too, on witnesses like Hunter Biden.
No matter how the vote seems, Senate leaders will seemingly break to debate what to do subsequent.
The dinnertime hours may very well be when issues get actually messy. The subsequent large step, assuming the witness movement fails, is a vote on every of the impeachment articles. However there are plenty of excessive jinks Senate Democrats may pull between the witness vote and the decision, together with forcing a bunch of procedural votes. But it surely’s laborious to say precisely what they might do, as a result of they’re nonetheless figuring that out. The session may go deep into the night time.
If Republicans had their alternative, they’d vote to acquit Mr. Trump by the top of the night time. However which may be troublesome. Some senators might want, as they did through the Clinton impeachment, to deliberate some time about ultimate votes, that are anticipated by Saturday.
Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, is the uncommon Senate Republican — really the lone Senate Republican till late Thursday — vocally pushing for witnesses to be referred to as in President Trump’s impeachment trial. He’s additionally the one Senate Republican who’s seen as a attainable vote to convict the president, an added distinction since Mr. Trump received each Home Republican to fall in line.
All of which locations upon Mr. Romney a stage of curiosity that goes past the quasi-celebrity therapy he already receives because the final pre-Trump standard-bearer of a Republican Occasion that feels about 80 years eliminated…