TODAYS TOP HEADLINES
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Wednesday, January 29, 2020 3A
Testimonies more likely
GOP lacks votes to block trial witnesses, McConnell concedes
PATRICK SEMANSKY I Associated Press
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., departs the chamber on Capitol Hill in
Washington, Monday, Jan. 27, after the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on
charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress ended for the day.
Peace plan exults
Israelis, enrages
Palestinians
BY ERIC TUCKER,
ZEKE MILLER
AND LISA MASCARO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Repub
licans lack the votes to block
witnesses at President Donald
Trump’s impeachment trial,
Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell conceded late
Tuesday, a potentially major
hurdle for Trump’s hopes
to end the trial with a quick
acquittal. Earlier, Trump’s
lawyers concluded his defense
with a plea to move on.
Even after sitting through
days and late nights of argu
ment, several Republicans
apparently are ready to join
Democrats in considering in-
person testimony from former
National Security Adviser
John Bolton and perhaps
others.
Trump’s lawyers made
their closing case for a speedy
acquittal Tuesday, but to no
avail.
McConnell told colleagues
in a private meeting that he did
not yet have the votes to block
Democrats from summon
ing witnesses. That outcome
would prolong an election-
year trial that Trump and his
legal team had hoped was on
track, as one lawyer said, to
“end now, as soon as possible.”
McConnnell’s statement,
in a closed-door meeting of
senators, was an acknowledg
ment of the extent to which
revelations from Bolton have
scrambled the trial’s schedule
and the desire for testimony.
Bolton writes in a forthcom
ing book that Trump told him
he wanted to withhold mili
tary aid from Ukraine until it
helped with investigations into
Democratic rival Joe Biden.
That assertion, if true, would
undercut a key defense argu
ment and go to the heart of one
major article of impeachment
against the president.
Trump complained anew
at a rally in Wildwood, New
Jersey, focusing on Demo
crats rather than Republican
senators.
“While we are creating
jobs and killing terrorists, the
congressional Democrats
are obsessed with demented
hoaxes, crazy witch hunts and
deranged partisan crusades,”
he said.
There are still several days
before any potential witness
vote would be taken. A deci
sion to call more witnesses
would require 51 votes to pass.
With a 53-47 majority, Repub
licans can only afford to lose
three. If senators agree they
want more witnesses they
would then have to vote again
on who to call.
McConnell convened the
private meeting shortly after
Trump’s legal team concluded
their arguments in the trial,
arguing forcefully against the
relevance of testimony from
Bolton and insisting that noth
ing Trump had done amounted
to an impeachable offense.
While scoffing at Bolton’s
book manuscript, Trump and
the Republicans have strongly
resisted summoning him to
testify in person about what he
saw and heard as Trump’s top
national security adviser.
A day after the defense
team largely brushed past
Bolton, attorney Jay Sekulow
addressed the controversy
head-on by dismissing the
book — said to contradict
a key defense argument
about Trump’s dealings with
Ukraine — as “inadmissible.”
Senate Republicans spent
considerable time in private
discussing how to deal with
Bolton’s manuscript without
extending the proceedings or
jeopardizing the president’s
expected acquittal. Those lost
steam, and Democrats showed
no interest.
Chuck Schumer, the Sen
ate’s top Democrat, called a
proposal for senators to be
shown the manuscript in pri
vate, keeping Bolton out of
public testimony, “absurd.”
“We’re not bargaining with
them. We want four witnesses,
and four sets of documents,
then the truth will come out,”
Schumer said.
BY ARON HELLER
AND MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -
President Donald Trump
unveiled his long-awaited
Mideast peace plan Tues
day alongside a beaming
Benjamin Netanyahu,
presenting a vision that
matched the Israeli lead
er’s hard-line, nationalist
views while falling far short
of Palestinian ambitions.
Trump’s plan envisions a
disjointed Palestinian state
that turns over key parts
of the West Bank to Israel.
It sides with Israel on key
contentious issues that
have bedeviled past peace
efforts, including borders
and the status of Jerusalem
and Jewish settlements,
and attaches nearly impos
sible conditions for grant
ing the Palestinians their
hoped-for state.
Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas dismissed
the plan as “nonsense” and
vowed to resist it. Netan
yahu called it a “historic
breakthrough” equal in sig
nificance to the country’s
declaration of indepen
dence in 1948.
He vowed to immedi
ately press forward with
his plans to annex the stra
tegic Jordan Valley and all
the Israeli settlements in
occupied lands. Netanyahu
said he’d ask his Cabinet
to approve the annexation
plans in their next meeting
on Sunday, an explosive
move that could trigger
harsh international reac
tion and renewed violence
with the Palestinians.
Given the Palestinian
opposition, the plan seems
unlikely to lead to any sig
nificant breakthrough.
But it could give a power
ful boost to both Trump
and Netanyahu who are
both facing legal problems
ahead of tough elections.
Trump called his plan a
“win-win” for both Israel
and the Palestinians, and
urged the Palestinians not
to miss their opportunity
for independence. But
Abbas, who accuses the
U.S. of unfair bias toward
Israel, rejected it out of
hand.
“We say 1,000 no’s
to the Deal of the Cen
tury,” Abbas said, using
a nickname for Trump’s
proposal.
“We will not kneel and
we will not surrender,” he
said, adding that the Pal
estinians would resist the
plan through “peaceful,
popular means.”
The Palestinians seek
all of the West Bank and
east Jerusalem — areas
captured by Israel in the
1967 Mideast war — for
an independent state and
the removal of many of the
more than 700,000 Israeli
settlers from these areas.
Under the terms of the
“peace vision,” all settlers
would remain in place,
and Israel would retain
sovereignty over all of its
settlements as well as the
strategic Jordan Valley.
Jet evacuates Americans from China outbreak zone
BEIJING — Countries on
Wednesday began evacuat
ing their citizens from the
Chinese city hardest-hit by
an outbreak of a new virus
that has killed 132 people
and infected more than 6,000
on the mainland and abroad.
China’s latest figures
cover the previous 24 hours
and add 26 to the number
of deaths, 25 of which were
in the central province of
Hubei and its capital, Wuhan,
the epicenter of the out
break. The 5,974 cases on the
mainland marked a rise of
1,459 from the previous day,
although that rise is a smaller
increase than the 1,771 new
cases reported on Monday.
Early Wednesday morn
ing, a plane carrying Ameri
cans who had been in
Wuhan left for Anchorage,
Alaska, where they will be
rescreened for the virus.
Hospitals are prepared to
treat or quarantine people
who may be infected. Then
the plane is scheduled to fly
to Ontario, California.
Associated Press
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