The latest on the Biden presidency and Trump impeachment trial

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, one of nine House impeachment managers, would not rule out calling Republican lawmakers as witnesses in the upcoming impeachment trial of former President Trump in the Senate. 

“The senators themselves are witnesses,” said Swalwell, when asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper if he’d consider calling as a witness House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who acknowledged speaking with Trump over the phone during the Capitol siege. 

But Swalwell, a former prosecutor who was deeply involved in Trump’s first impeachment trial, would not say for certain whether the impeachment team would call lawmakers as witnesses, noting it is still unclear whether the Senate will even permit witnesses.

“We’re waiting to see what the rules will be around that,” he said. “Again, we’re not going to reveal any tactics this early until we know what the rules are.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday afternoon would not say whether he was open to having witnesses, saying “hopefully” Democrats would be able to negotiate with Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on the structure of proceedings.

“We’ll see what happens. We don’t know what the requests are on either side yet, of the managers or the defense,” Schumer told CNN.

Swalwell, when pressed by Tapper a second time on whether he had plans to call McCarthy, reiterated that no decision had yet been made. 

“I’ll leave that to our team to decide,” he replied. “We’ll be ready. We’re ready to go right now. Again, these senators, unlike most trials, they were witnesses to the crime. You don’t have to tell them twice what happened.”

Watch:

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Schumer heads to an interview on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Monday, January 25,

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would not directly answer when asked by CNN on Monday if he was open to having witnesses appear as part of former President Trump’s impeachment trial, saying “hopefully” Democrats would be able to negotiate with Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on the structure of proceedings.

Asked about the status of negotiations on a power sharing agreement with McConnell, the Democratic leader answered, “What I can tell you is, we are not letting McConnell dictate how the Senate operates. He’s minority leader.”

President Biden contrasted his new “Buy American” policies with those of the Trump administration, which Biden said did not go far enough to protect American manufacturing jobs and businesses.

He added that under the Trump administration, federal agencies waived the “Buy American” requirements with little pushback. 

“Under the previous administration, the federal government contract awarded directly to foreign companies went up 30%. That is going to change on our watch,” Biden said. 

Biden went on to say that his executive order goes further than the similar executive orders President Trump signed, which had little effect because his administration waited to formalize changes until his second to last day in office.

You can read more on the differences between Biden’s executive order and Trump’s efforts here.

Hear more:

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President Biden signed an executive order aimed at boosting manufacturing in the country, setting in motion a process to fulfill his campaign pledge to strengthen the federal government’s Buy American rules.

“The reason we need to do this is America can’t sit on the sidelines in the race for the future. Our are competitors aren’t waiting,” he said in remarks before signing the order.

Currently, a patchwork of federal rules requires that a portion of government spending on things like infrastructure, vehicles and other equipment is restricted to goods that are made in the United States. But there are loopholes depending on the material, the amount of the purchase, and what qualifies as American made.

Here’s what Biden’s executive order will do:

Similar executive orders were signed by former President Trump and had little effect because his administration waited to formalize changes until his second to last day in office. By contrast, Biden will set a 180-day deadline to deliver on fundamental change to the process, according to an administration official.

See President Biden sign executive order:

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French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he hopes the election of President Biden will mean “a new start” to the relationship between Europe and the United States.

Speaking to CNN’s Richard Quest, Le Maire described the phone call between Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday as important, long and positive. 

Le Maire welcomed the US decision to come back into the Paris agreement and urged the US to put an end to “this crazy trade war” between Europe and the United States. France and the United States are engaged in a long-running dispute over subsidies to aircraft manufacturers. In early January, the Trump administration suspended its plans to impose tariffs on French cosmetic and handbag companies over the country’s digital services tax.

“I really want to insist on that, the trade war, the Boeing-Airbus case and these sanctions between EU and US are really clearly only for the benefit of China, not for the benefit US and not for the benefit of the EU,” he said, calling for the US to lift its tariffs as soon as possible.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, president pro tempore of the Senate who will preside over former President Trump’s impeachment trial next month, told reporters Monday that he’s “up to the responsibility” of presiding, and his role will be to make sure “the procedures are followed.”

“I’m not presenting the evidence, I’m making sure the procedures are followed,” he said, when asked about being a frequent critic of the former President. “I don’t think there’s any senator who over the 40 plus years I’ve been here would say I’m anything but impartial in ruling on procedure.”

The Vermont Democrat declined to say when the decision was made that he would preside over the Senate trial.

Vice President Kamala Harris just tweeted a picture of the ceremonial swearing in of Lloyd Austin III as Secretary of Defense.

Both Harris and Austin made history as the first African Americans to hold their respective roles.

The ceremony was held in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, but was open only to still cameras.

See Harris’ tweet:

President Biden is not expected to attend all of the meetings of his Covid-19 team, but will be briefed regularly, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.

“He will be briefed regularly, I suspect far more regularly than the past president was briefed on Covid, and the developments and progress the team is making,” Psaki said in response to a question from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

Psaki’s comments came one day after Dr. Deborah Birx, the Trump White House task force coordinator, told CBS News that she almost never spoke with former President Trump.

Psaki continued, “I wouldn’t expect he attends every task force meeting, no, but he expects and request regular briefings from the team and I expect he’ll get them.”

There are two big questions looming over the Democrats’ impeachment case: Whether they will seek witnesses, and how long the trial will go?

The answers to both are not known yet, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. 

But if they seek witnesses, they want that person to be cooperative, rather than fight it in court if that prospective witness tries to assert executive privilege.

Democrats have not ruled out bringing in witnesses, particularly those who can shine a light on the former President’s state of mind as he incited the riot on Jan. 6. But it’s far from clear who that person might be and whether he or she would cooperate.

The exact timeframe of the trial is still not known but multiple impeachment managers said they don’t think it will go as long as the 21 days of the 2020 trial.

But the expectation is it will take much of February and wrap up by month’s end or even the week of Feb. 22. 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday that the White House was “exploring ways to speed up,” efforts to release $20 notes featuring Harriett Tubman’s likeness, adding, “it’s important that our notes, our money, if people don’t know what a note is, reflect the history and diversity of our country, and Harriet Tubman’s image gracing the new $20 note would certainly reflect that.”

In a 2018 interview at the Economic Club of Washington, Trump Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin dodged when asked about progress with regard to the new bill, saying, “We haven’t made any decisions as to whether we’ll change the bill, or won’t change the bill. 

CNN has reached out to Treasury for comment.