In the Senate impeachment trial, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, asked the House managers about White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s claim that foreign aid is held up “all the time,” and why President Donald Trump’s decision to do so when working with Ukraine was different. In response, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said that the Government Accountability Office found that the Trump administration violated the law by withholding foreign assistance to Ukraine, and that multiple agencies had certified that Ukraine met anti-corruption benchmarks to receive the aid. He gave examples of other countries, such as Afghanistan and Egypt, that have had to meet similar benchmarks in order to receive aid, and pointed out that the withholding of aid to these countries has never been hidden from Congress. “No one has suggested you can’t condition aid. But I hope we would agree that you can’t condition foreign aid for a corrupt purpose,” said Schiff. Senators had a second day to ask questions of the House managers and Trump’s legal team on Thursday, Jan. 30. That came after both sides were given three days, respectively, to present their case. The House of Representatives impeached Trump in December on two articles -- abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The questions come ahead of a vote on whether to bring forward witnesses and documents as part of the Senate trial. The Senate must now decide whether to acquit the president or convict him of the charges and remove him from office.
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