DAVID GREENE, HOST:
So a fairly large week in Washington, D.C., with a Senate impeachment trial starting tomorrow.
NOEL KING, HOST:
That is proper. Senators will open the trial with a dialogue of its guidelines. One huge factor that hasn’t been resolved but is whether or not new witnesses can be referred to as. Here is Democrat Adam Schiff, who would be the lead Home supervisor for the trial, speaking on ABC’s “This Week.”
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ADAM SCHIFF: If the Senate decides – if Senator McConnell prevails and there are not any witnesses, will probably be the primary impeachment trial in historical past that goes to conclusion with out witnesses.
GREENE: OK. One in every of many individuals who can be following all this this week, NPR White Home correspondent Tamara Keith, who joins us this morning. Hello, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning.
GREENE: OK. So we’re beginning to get a preview of what these arguments can be. We had this 111-page transient from the Home impeachment managers. After which we’ve got President Trump’s authorized group releasing a memo. Let’s begin with the White Home.
KEITH: Proper. So that is what they name a solution. There can be an extended transient that comes from the White Home later right this moment. However within the reply, they argue that the articles of impeachment submitted by Home Democrats are, quote, “a harmful assault on the proper of the American individuals to freely select their president. It is a brazen and illegal try and overturn the outcomes of the 2016 election and intrude within the 2020 election.”
Additionally they say that the articles of impeachment are constitutionally invalid on their face, that, as Robert Ray argued on Weekend Version Sunday, he is one member of the authorized group, that there have been no excessive crimes and misdemeanors in there.
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ROBERT RAY: It isn’t bribery. It isn’t extortion. It isn’t an unlawful marketing campaign contribution. It isn’t any of these issues. And since it’s not any of these issues, that’s the reason it’s not impeachable.
GREENE: OK. And so that is the argument from the White Home. What are we listening to from Democrats at this level?
KEITH: In order you say, there was this prolonged transient that the seven impeachment managers put collectively. And the distinction between what they’re saying and what the White Home is saying could not be extra stark. The impeachment managers are arguing that President Trump’s conduct is the framers’ worst nightmare, that he used his official energy to stress a overseas authorities to intrude in the US election for his private political acquire after which tried to cowl it up by obstructing Congress. That’s what they’re arguing.
It contains this line, the one remaining query is whether or not the members of the Senate will settle for and perform the accountability positioned on them by the framers of the Structure and their constitutional oaths. The lead impeachment supervisor Adam Schiff was on ABC’s “This Week” and pushed again on the notion that Trump’s conduct is not impeachable.
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SCHIFF: Effectively, that is the argument I suppose it’s important to make if the info are so deadset in opposition to you. If the president has admitted to the wrongdoing, his chief of employees has confessed to the wrongdoing, his European Union ambassador has confessed to the identical quid professional quo, it’s important to depend on an argument that even when he abused his workplace on this horrendous method that it is not impeachable.
KEITH: Yeah. And that’s the argument that the White Home is making is that abuse of energy isn’t an impeachable offense. But additionally, they declare that the president did not abuse his energy.
GREENE: And also you talked about we’ll be getting a good longer transient from President Trump’s authorized group right this moment, proper? In order that’ll occur. After which inform me what occurs past that.
KEITH: Effectively – after which Home managers can reply to that in writing. The large factor comes on Tuesday when Senate Majority Chief Mitch McConnell will ship remarks within the early afternoon. They may then contemplate guidelines of the trial, guidelines that nobody has seen but – or not less than none of us have seen but. And we do not know what they’ll say.
We do not know precisely how lengthy the trial will final. There’s speak that it may very well be one thing like 12 hours a day and never beginning till 1 p.m. Democrats listening to this speak coming from senators should not comfortable about it and say that that may be, in essence, attempting to cover the trial from the general public.
GREENE: All proper. Attention-grabbing. We’ll be following all of it. NPR’s Tamara Keith. She covers the White Home for us. Thanks, Tam.
KEITH: You are welcome.
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GREENE: All proper. So Virginia’s capital is below a short lived state of emergency because it prepares right this moment for a pro-gun rally.
KING: Yeah. And it is value noting that this rally is an annual occasion. Hundreds of gun rights advocates are anticipated to be there. They’re protesting gun management measures proposed by the state legislature. However Virginia legislation enforcement says it is involved that militia teams and white supremacists may also be there.
Governor Ralph Northam stated he declared a state of emergency as a result of he would not desire a repeat of a lethal protest in Charlottesville that occurred again in the summertime of 2017.
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RALPH NORTHAM: Nobody desires one other incident just like the one we noticed in Charlottesville in 2017. We is not going to enable that mayhem and violence to occur right here.
KING: So all weapons have been banned from the rally website right this moment.
GREENE: OK. Let’s flip to NPR nationwide safety correspondent Hannah Allam, who’s in Richmond. Hello, Hannah.
HANNAH ALLAM, BYLINE: Hello there.
GREENE: Let’s begin with simply how persons are feeling forward of this.
ALLAM: Effectively, the temper right here is anxious and nervous, you recognize? You hear individuals say, I am unable to wait till it is over. I simply hope it is peaceable. The logistics alone are a nightmare – road closings and safety fences, barricades. And as you talked about, weapons are banned on the rally website. So everybody who desires to enter has to undergo steel detectors. And there is only a single entrance for probably hundreds of individuals streaming into this one patch of land.
Additionally we have had a counter-protest and a vigil that we have heard have been canceled out of safety considerations. And only for some perspective right here, the principle occasion was permitted for one hour, simply from 11 to midday. So all of this – the state of emergency, the excessive safety, the nationwide media consideration – it is principally all for an indication that formally was purported to final simply an hour.
GREENE: Wow. Effectively, you’ve got been doing reporting and attempting to grasp what individuals concerned on this predict. You attended a gathering of a militia group final evening. I imply, what precisely did you hear there?
ALLAM: That is proper. This was an occasion at a lodge about half an hour outdoors of Richmond. And it was billed because the State of the Militia 2020. And teams had been there from everywhere in the nation. I suppose the large takeaway for me is simply the sheer variety of factions. They usually’re coming with totally different agendas – a few of them overlap, a few of them do not. And the vary of perspective simply in that one banquet corridor is a microcosm of, I feel, what we’ll see on the rally right this moment.
There have been individuals who had been effective with their photographs being taken, with their names getting used, others had been by no means and made it clear we had been unwelcome. Some guys we had been informed to not method below any circumstances. However there have been shocking moments, too. Exterior the corridor, I met a militia member who was taking a smoke break. We began chatting. And he pulls out his telephone and reveals me a poem he is written in regards to the ache he feels on the polarization within the nation proper now.
So, you recognize, there are surprises. And it will possibly get messy sorting by all these factions and attempting to determine what they’re all about. One of many organizers on the occasion, Tammy Lee, she stated her primary message is that they do not condone hate teams and wish nothing to do with them.
TAMMY LEE: We’re now shifting towards what we name the American motion, which is impartial individuals, constitutionalists, individuals who do not hate, they welcome all sexes and races and creeds and religions. And that is a part of what we’re doing right here tonight. However that is what we’re doing out in public. And that is what we’re doing out at these occasions now.
ALLAM: And I ought to say, Tammy Lee did not even need reporters there. However she stated she felt it was necessary to point out totally different sides of the militia motion.
GREENE: Effectively, as Noel talked about, that is an annual occasion. However you’ve gotten the governor declaring this state of emergency and appears to be actual involved. Why is that this 12 months totally different?
ALLAM: The governor cited a reputable menace of violence on the rally. We do not know the precise nature of the menace, however there are plenty of teams – particularly one referred to as The Base, a secretive neo-Nazi group. And, you recognize, we noticed arrests main as much as that simply earlier than the rally. So clearly that is scary to the individuals who simply wish to present up and assert their Second Modification rights.
GREENE: NPR’s Hannah Allam forward of this gun rally. She’s in Richmond, Va. Thanks a lot.
ALLAM: Thanks.
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GREENE: OK. So Prince Harry has now damaged his silence about leaving the royal household – or the agency, because it’s recognized in Britain.
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PRINCE HARRY: The choice that I’ve made for my spouse and I to step again isn’t one I made calmly. There was so many months of talks after so a few years of challenges. And I do know I have not all the time gotten it proper, however so far as this goes, there actually was no different choice.
KING: Harry elaborated a little bit bit. He stated he and his spouse, Meghan Markle, needed to maintain serving the queen. However in addition they needed to earn their very own earnings. And sadly, he stated, that wasn’t doable. So over the weekend, Queen Elizabeth, senior royals and Harry and Meghan agreed to some issues.
They will be unable to make use of their royal titles, his and her royal highness. They may nonetheless preserve the titles duke and duchess of Sussex. And Harry, who was born a prince, will keep a prince.
GREENE: OK. Sorting all this out for us is NPR’s Frank Langfitt, who’s on the road from London. Hello there, Frank.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning, David.
GREENE: OK. His and her royal highness, duke and duchess – most of us do not communicate royal, precisely. Are you able to translate all this and inform us precisely what’s occurring?
LANGFITT: Yeah. Completely, David. The underside line right here is the royals and the couple minimize a deal that Harry would not actually like, which is what he was speaking about final evening. That they had felt – Harry and Meghan had felt constrained of their royal duties. That they had felt attacked by the press right here. They needed one thing, I might say, a extra business operation on their very own with a charitable basis, perhaps TV and films, issues like that, whereas nonetheless having a platform as senior royals and residing outdoors – largely outdoors of the U.Okay.
The queen principally stated over the weekend after plenty of negotiations, no cube. And the sense is that Buckingham Palace would wish to vet any initiatives they needed to do. And that is type of comprehensible as a result of they wish to defend the crown and keep away from any conflicts of curiosity.
GREENE: Yeah. Say extra about what precisely the priority is there.
LANGFITT: Yeah. The priority is that this – I imply, the crown must be apolitical if it desires to outlive in Britain. And it’s comparatively common but in addition fairly divisive. And the criticism is the couple had been type of attempting to have it each methods – become profitable off the crown whereas curbing their very own duties, residing abroad and never having any oversight.
Now, final evening, Harry referred to as their transfer to Canada and this new life a leap of religion. It isn’t precisely clear what this new enterprise goes to appear like or how profitable will probably be, particularly whether or not the lack of this royal title that we had been simply mentioning may have an effect on their incomes energy.
GREENE: What is the response been to Prince Harry popping out and attempting to assert this?
LANGFITT: It is fascinating, David. I imply, this morning, I used to be watching the BBC. And I watched two royal watchers – one in every of whom I’ve interviewed plenty of instances – really arguing. One was group queen, one was group Harry…
GREENE: (Laughter) That is wonderful.
LANGFITT: …And I am not making this up. I imply, that is – it is fascinating. I feel lots of people, due to the loss of life of Diana, princess of Wales, they see Harry as, like, their nephew. And this will get very emotional for them. And so what we additionally noticed this morning was questions on precisely how they might make their cash and what would occur.
And I feel, David, what this comes right down to – it is fascinating. It is a fascinating story – royalty, superstar household strife. However some persons are saying, 11 days earlier than Brexit, individuals ought to be focusing extra on the way forward for the UK and its relationship with the EU than the connection between the queen and Harry.
GREENE: And Harry, after all, saying he desires a extra peaceable life right here. Any sense, briefly, what he means by that?
LANGFITT: Yeah. I feel that he desires to get away from the tabloids. He feels – he and his spouse really feel completely victimized by the British tabloids right here.
GREENE: NPR’s Frank Langfitt in London. Frank, thanks a lot.
LANGFITT: You are very welcome, David.
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