John Light
Where Things Stand: Is The Trial Over? 
We wrapped up the impeachment trial’s Q&A portion last night and two key senators immediately announced where they stood on witnesses: Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) was for them, but Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) was against.
Now we’re waiting for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to make a statement (Romney is a yes). But, as Tierney Sneed wrote last night, the best Democrats can hope for now is a 50-50 tie. Chief Justice John Roberts could break it, but he’s not expected to do so.
Is it game over for Democrats? Not quite.
Rick Hasen is one of the nation’s top experts on voter suppression and voter fraud propaganda of the sort often pushed by the Trump administration. He’s been a go-to source for our reporters and editors on these issues for years.
Tomorrow, we’re holding an Inside briefing with Hasen. If you care about these issues, you won’t want to miss it.
The first votes of 2020 will be cast Monday in Iowa. Meanwhile, voting rights advocates are warning that this could be a banner year for voter suppression, and after 2016, concerns abound that we could see new efforts by foreign powers to interfere in the election.
One of the top election experts in the country, Rick Hasen, will join us Friday to discuss threats to elections — the real ones and the imagined ones — that we’re likely to see in 2020. Hasen is the Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine and a frequent source for TPM reporters. We’ll also discuss attempts by the Trump administration and its allies to perpetuate the “voter fraud” myth.
The Senate trial officially gets underway at 1 p.m., but we’re expecting pretrial motions at 9 a.m. and responses to them at 11 a.m. Follow along in our liveblog, here.
Just as the Senate impeachment trial got underway, Josh Marshall, Josh Kovensky and Matt Shuham did an Inside briefing on what to expect, and the continually mounting evidence agains the President. They discussed Lev Parnas’ recent revelations and years-long back story, and the implications for President Trump and U.S. politics more broadly if — and probably when — Senate Republicans let him off the hook.
You can watch that briefing here.
Tomorrow, an hour before the impeachment trial gets started in the Senate, join Josh Marshall, Josh Kovensky and Matt Shuham in TPM’s New York office for a briefing on what to expect and a look back at the new evidence against the president that emerged last week through congressional document dumps and Lev Parnas’ media tour.
Click here to register and join us on Tuesday at 12 p.m. EST.
We’re likely to see the House appoint impeachment managers and hand off the articles of impeachment to the Senate this week. Tierney Sneed and Kate Riga took Inside members’ questions on what they’re watching, and what to expect as a Senate trial begins.
After a three-week pause, impeachment looks poised to move forward this week. Join Kate Riga and Tierney Sneed, who have been covering impeachment for TPM, at 2 p.m. EST today for a discussion of what to watch. Register here, and bring questions.