OnPolitics: Things are just getting started

The U.S. Senate began opening arguments Wednesday in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, with Democratic House managers making the case that Trump abused his presidential power in precisely the way the Founding Fathers feared. (Jan. 22) (Photo: AP)

Let’s just start out by saying, the Senate wrapped up Tuesday’s debate in the wee hours of the morning Wednesday so everyone is just a bit tired today. 

The marathon session in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial Tuesday saw 11 amendments with proposed rule changes from the Democrats voted down by the Republican majority.

Also, Chief Justice John Roberts used the word “pettifogging” to admonish leaders of both parties, and you’re lying if you say you already knew what that word meant meant. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, for one, was not pleased with Tuesday’s events.

“If there’s one thing we learned from the series of votes on the Senate floor, on the Senate floor it’s that Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans don’t want a fair trial that considers all the evidence,” Schumer told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference.

But Wednesday saw the first day of actual arguments in the trial , kicked off by lead House impeachment manager Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., quoting Alexander Hamilton (the real one, not the Broadway one).

USA TODAY reported Christal Hayes — who at this point may actually be made up of 75% coffee — has been covering impeachment for months and pointed out that both Republicans and Democrats have leaned on the founding fathers to justify opposing, or supporting, the impeachment. 

The House impeachment managers will have 24 hours spread over 3 days to make their case, followed by the same amount of time for the president’s counsel. Then, senators will have 16 hours to ask questions of those two groups. Then, the vote. 

So what’s Trump up to?

The president wrapped up his time at the World Economic Forum Wednesday and as he was headed out of Switzerland, he told reporters he plans to add “a couple” countries to his travel ban.

The initial ban kicked off a 17-month political and legal battle, with critics accusing Trump of unconstitutionally targeting Muslims. The Supreme Court ultimately upheld the legality of the ban and Trump on Wednesday did not mention which countries could be added to the ban.

Also Wednesday, the D.C. attorney general sued President Trump’s inaugural committee, accusing the nonprofit organization of “grossly” misusing funds by overpaying for event space at Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C. 

A statement from the Trump hotel dismissed the claims as “false, intentionally misleading and riddled with inaccuracies.”

If that wasn’t a busy enough day, the president also opened the door to overhauling so-called entitlement programs such as Medicare in an appearance on CNBC.

After all of that, the president still had a moment to trade jabs with presidential candidate Tom Steyer on Twitter. 

“Steyer is a major loser. Just doesn’t get it,” Trump posted while re-tweeting a video of Sen. Bernie Sanders appearing to push away Steyer as he tried to say something to him.

“Donald, you’re just jealous nobody wants to say hi to you,” Steyer replied. “Impeachment is forever bye. That has to hurt.” 

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