Republicans prepared to defend their expected acquittal of President Donald Trump, on Sunday's TV talk shows, after their Senate votes to reject witness testimony at his impeachment trial sparked criticism they were aiding a cover-up and abdicating their duties.
Trump on Saturday claimed his polling numbers were up after the Senate paved the way for his acquittal next Wednesday.
However, according to the RealClearPolitics website, Trump currently has a 44.6 percent approval rating in collated polls, almost exactly the same as when he came to office in January 2017.
His assertion, made on Twitter, came with Washington also awaiting the results of Monday's all-important Iowa caucuses.
The first vote in the US primary process will be closely watched as a sign as to which of 11 Democratic candidates are gaining early momentum to challenge Trump in November's election.
AFP / Mandel NGAN Republican Senator Lamar Alexander told NBC that what President Donald Trump did was 'inappropriate', but voted against calling witnesses at the Senate impeachment trial
As Democratic contenders raced across the Midwest state, the US Senate on Friday rebuffed Democratic calls for witnesses at only the third impeachment trial of a US president.
Trump is all but assured of being acquitted by the Senate, where Republicans hold 53 seats to 47 for the Democrats. A two-thirds majority, or 67 senators, is needed to remove a president from office.
"Trump poll numbers are the highest since election, despite constant phony Witch Hunts!" the president tweeted on Saturday from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
He was impeached for abuse of power over pressure on Ukraine to open investigations including into a leading Democratic challenger, Joe Biden.
- 4 Republican votes -
On Friday, just two Republican senators -- Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine -- joined Democrats in voting to introduce witnesses into the impeachment trial.
AFP / Nicholas Kamm US President Donald Trump arrives in West Palm Beach, Florida with an acquittal expected in his impeachment trial for abuse of power and obstruction of justice
Democrats argued that every other impeachment trial of US officials has called witnesses.
But they failed to muster the four Republican votes needed to allow testimony from Trump's former national security advisor John Bolton, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and others.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called it a "grand tragedy."
"America will remember this day -- a day when the United States Senate did not live up to its responsibilities, turned away from truth and instead went along with a sham trial," Schumer said.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, which impeached Trump on December 18, accused Republicans of being "accomplices to the president's cover-up."
GETTY IMAGES/AFP / MARK WILSON Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the failure to call witnesses at the impeachment trial a 'grand tragedy'
Democrats had been eager to hear from Bolton following reports that, in a forthcoming book, he says Trump told him military aid to Ukraine was tied to Kiev's investigating former vice president Biden.
That is the crux of the case against Trump.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Trump ally, said House prosecutors -- known as "managers" -- had already presented enough evidence to make their case and there was no need for further witnesses.
Among the material was more than 28,000 pages of documents gathered during the House impeachment inquiry.
AFP / Brendan Smialowski Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after the Senate voted not to allow new witnesses at the impeachment trial
Just hours after the vote to reject any witness testimony, reports pointed to new potential evidence.
The administration's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said in a court filing that it "has redacted portions of 24 documents pursuant to the Presidential Communications Privilege," according to US media.
These emails "reflect communications by either the President, the Vice President, or the President's immediate advisors regarding Presidential decision-making about the scope, duration, and purpose of the hold on military assistance to Ukraine," OMB's deputy general counsel Heather Walsh said in the court document cited by media.
McConnell said the Senate would resume as a court of impeachment on Monday to hear final arguments, before voting on Wednesday on the two articles of impeachment passed last month in the House.
- 'Partisan nature' -
Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who had been considered a possible swing vote on witnesses, said there was no need for more evidence.
"If you have eight witnesses who say someone left the scene of an accident, why do you need nine?," he told NBC in an interview to air Sunday.
But, he added, "I think he shouldn't have done it. I think it was wrong. Inappropriate was the way I'd say -- improper, crossing the line."
Four contenders for the Democratic nomination -- Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bennet -- were required to be present at the impeachment trial.
Monday's vote is headed to a photo finish, with leftist Sanders holding a narrow polling lead over Biden.
Democratic candidates bolt Sunday across Iowa, where no handshake or pit stop is too insignificant one day ahead of the state's presidential nominating process, which is the first in the nation.
However, Monday's crunch vote has created an air of suspense, with no clear frontrunner.
Leftist senator Bernie Sanders holds only a narrow lead over former vice president Joe Biden, among the field of several candidates feverishly criss-crossing the rural state.
Three of the leading candidates seized on a brief break from their duties as jurors in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in Washington to rush to Iowa for a flurry of last-minute events.
The senators -- the self-styled democratic socialist Sanders, progressive Elizabeth Warren and moderate Amy Klobuchar -- each held a handful of events Saturday.
AFP / JIM WATSON Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren was one of three who rushed to Iowa during a break in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump
The impeachment trial -- only the third in US history -- created an unprecedented situation by limiting the senators' ability to campaign in Iowa in the closing days before the state's presidential caucuses.
Sanders, Warren and Klobuchar have to return to Washington on Monday, along with Senator Michael Bennet who trails badly in the polls, for the trial's resumption.
Senate leaders have scheduled a vote for Wednesday that appears virtually certain to end in Trump's acquittal on the impeachment charges of abuse of power and contempt of Congress.
- 'It all begins' -
Eight of the 11 Democrats still in the race were in Iowa on Saturday.
A good result can propel a candidate to new victories in the states that follow, starting with tiny New Hampshire eight days later. A poor showing can signal the end.
Sanders, at 78 the oldest Democratic candidate, has seen his candidacy buoyed by enthusiastic support among young voters.
GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP / JOE RAEDLE Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar has climbed slowly but steadily in voter polls
His staff organized concerts at his weekend rallies with indie groups Bon Iver and Vampire Weekend, who also performed at his events four years ago.
"We must defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of America" the Vermont senator told a crowd of several thousand in Cedar Rapids.
"Monday night in Iowa it all begins" he said.
Monday evening, at 7:00 pm (01H00 GMT Tuesday), the state's more than 600,000 registered Democrats are invited to take part in caucuses at about 1,700 venues -- schools, theaters, churches -- to publicly express their choice by standing under one candidate's banner.
- The best against Trump -
AFP/File / Kerem Yucel Former vice president Joe Biden, hugging a voter in Burlington, Iowa, says he will be "ready on Day One" if elected to the nation's highest office
Just as in every presidential year, thousands of volunteers fanned out across the Midwestern farm state of just over three million inhabitants to try to convince neighbors or passers-by to vote for their favorite.
At this late date, nearly one Iowa voter in two claimed to still be undecided.
In a home in Iowa City that Warren supporters were using as a base, people streamed in and out, looking for more posters to put up on lamp posts or in yards, or for lists of doors that still needed to be knocked on.
GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP / JOE RAEDLE Former mayor Pete Buttigieg portrays his youth as an asset
"We are trying to get around the state as much as we can," Warren told a rally of nearly 1,000 at a high school in Iowa City, adding that the Democratic Party's job is "to come together to beat Donald Trump."
If one thing unifies the Democrats, it's that desire to defeat Trump, state Democratic chairman Troy Price told AFP.
That is the number one argument being made by Biden, former vice president to Barack Obama.
"We need a president who is ready on Day One," the 77-year-old political veteran has been saying throughout his campaign.
Biden leads in nationwide surveys but trails Sanders in the latest Iowa polling.
- New faces -
Iowans take their politics seriously. They take their role as first-in-the-nation voters to heart, and often, even in the smallest cities, have the chance to meet candidates in person.
AFP / Jonathan WALTER US presidential election 2020: primaries and caucuses
Their pick has a recent historical track record of going on to become the Democratic Party nominee.
Like Biden, 38-year-old Pete Buttigieg took advantage of the absence of rivals stuck in the Senate to lay on a heavy schedule of campaigning.
A former consultant, army reservist and onetime mayor of a small Indiana city, "Mayor Pete" portrays his youth as a reason voters should prefer him over the graying Biden. As for Sanders, his politics are too divisive, Buttigieg implies.
His is not the only new face to emerge during the campaign.
Klobuchar, 59, a previously little-known senator, has climbed slowly but steadily in voter polls. She is hoping for a surprise on Monday, boosted in part by the fact that her home state, Minnesota, borders Iowa.
Maria Watt, 42, was leaning toward "Pete" until she decided to switch to "Amy."
"Either way, we'd be happy to have it be a young person or a female," the Iowa City voter said Saturday.
"Anyone but an old white guy."
Joe Biden and other Democratic presidential candidates zigzagged through Iowa Friday wooing undecided voters days before an all-important vote launches the party's nomination contest -- as four rivals were trapped 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away in Donald Trump's impeachment trial.
Monday's crunch vote is headed to a photo finish, with leftist Senator Bernie Sanders holding a narrow polling lead over former vice president Biden.
Indiana ex-mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Elizabeth Warren follow, with Senator Amy Klobuchar further back but still in the mix.
The 77-year-old national frontrunner Biden, Buttigieg, 38, and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, 45, in the second-tier but gunning for a surprise showing, have launched whistlestop tours to press the flesh.
Each has several Iowa events Friday and they are capitalizing on their rivals' absence. Sanders, Warren, Klobuchar and Michael Bennet were in Washington, bound by their duty to sit in judgment of Trump.
In a twist of political fate, the very process that each of them hoped would conclude with Trump's removal has deprived them of critical campaign time.
Compounding the uncertainty, nearly half of Democratic Iowa voters remained undecided barely 72 hours before Monday's caucuses, the local meetings where participants align behind their candidates in one of the country's quirkier voting systems.
Among them is Stephanie Hull, a 21-year-old student who came to see Biden in the small town of Burlington, on the banks of the Mississippi River.
AFP / SAUL LOEB US President Donald Trump sought to snatch the spotlight from Democrats at a rally in Iowa days before the contest that kicks off the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination battle"It's a possibility" that president Barack Obama's White House wingman earns her vote, she told AFP.
"I have a few other favorites right now so it's going to be down to the wire."
The attentive crowd, on average notably older than Hull, warmly welcomed Biden, who entered the community event with little flourish before delivering a half-hour stump speech including his campaign's key takeaway: "the soul of the nation" is at stake.
Biden, whose global experience is unmatched among the candidates, has declared Trump a danger to America due to his erratic foreign policy.
"The next president of the United States is going to inherit a country that's divided and a world in disarray," Biden told attendees.
"There's going to be no time for on-the-job training."
Biden's readiness to command the world stage appeals to Christina Carter, 54, a Burlington high school teacher who is also undecided.
"I really like him, and... he has eight years' experience with a president that I truly adore," she said.
The Obama connection helps explains Biden's popularity among Democrats. He has defied forecasts and remained atop national primary polling for the past year.
Biden's blue-collar roots and his uncanny ability to connect personally with voters are huge assets, although his Iowa speeches have lacked the passion that animates some rivals.
In this heartland terrain where voters appreciate intimate face-to-face encounters with candidates, Biden's unpretentious, folksy style seem to hit home.
- 'Defeat Donald Trump' -
GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP / WIN MCNAMEE White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg, a former South Bend, Indiana mayor, has been barnstorming Iowa ahead of its first-in-the-nation Democratic nomination vote on February 3, 2020, while some rivals are in US President Donald Trump's impeachment trialDespite the agonizing over which political approach to take -- revolution or realism -- in the 2020 election, Iowa's Democratic Party chairman Troy Price said voters have unified around one goal.
"There's a lot of people that want to make sure that we defeat Donald Trump," Price said.
Like Biden, Buttigieg crisscrossed Iowa Friday, focusing in large part on communities that voted for Trump in 2016 -- and arguing that he, unlike the older frontrunners, is the future-forward candidate who can unite the country after four years of bitter divisions.
"We've got to galvanize, not polarize," he said Thursday in Decorah.
As Democrats scramble, Trump jetted into Iowa Thursday to put his thumb on the scales, holding a rowdy rally in Des Moines and lashing out at "Crazy Bernie" and "Sleepy Joe."
AFP / Gal ROMA Chart showing support for top candidates in the US Democratic presidential nomination race as of Jan 31, 2020, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average Trump mercilessly mocked the radical left-leaning approach from candidates like Sanders, who advocates for universal health care and tuition-free college.
"The Democrats will lose because America will never be a socialist country," he said to loud cheers.
Meanwhile, the senator candidates were forced to scrap their attendance at Friday events in Iowa, leaving surrogates to campaign in their stead.
The GOP-led Senate was to vote Friday on whether witnesses should testify at Trump's trial, but it appeared likely that Republicans would block the effort, possibly leading to an acquittal vote in coming days.
Klobuchar urged understanding from voters.
"I have a job to do and I hope the people of Iowa and beyond will understand that my experience matters," she tweeted. "Being in the arena matters."
Sometimes, being in Iowa doesn't help. Former congressman John Delaney, who began campaigning for president here in 2018, ended his bid Friday citing lack of support.
Joe Biden Image: AFP / Kerem Yucel
