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Trump Impeachment Trial Begins In US Senate
Amid a solemn silence, articles of impeachment against Donald Trump were read aloud on the Senate floor on Thursday as the bitterly divided chamber began a historic trial of the US president for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Senate Sergeant of Arms Michael Stenger opened just the third impeachment trial of a US president in history with a warning to the 100 senators.
“Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye,” Stenger said after the seven members of the House of Representatives who will serve as prosecutors gathered in the well of the Senate chamber.
“All persons are commanded to keep silent, on pain of imprisonment, while the House of Representatives is exhibiting to the Senate of the United States, articles of impeachment against Donald John Trump, President of the United States,” the sergeant at arms said.
Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who will serve as lead prosecutor for the trial, then read out the two articles of impeachment passed by the House on December 18.
“I will now read the articles of impeachment,” Schiff said, “impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.”
US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is to be sworn in at 2:00 pm (1900 GMT) to preside over the trial.
Roberts, 64, who was appointed to the nation’s top court by president George W. Bush, will then deliver an oath to the 100 senators who will swear to administer “impartial justice.”
The proceedings will then adjourn and the trial will get underway “in earnest” on Tuesday, according to Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell.
Impeachment rules require a two-thirds Senate majority to convict and remove a president and Trump’s acquittal is widely expected in the Republican-dominated Senate.
The Senate’s time is at hand’
Trump is accused of abuse of power for withholding military aid to Ukraine and a White House meeting for the country’s president in exchange for an investigation into his potential presidential election rival Democrat Joe Biden.
The Government Accountability Office concluded in a report released Thursday that the White House violated federal law by putting a hold on the congressionally-approved funds for Ukraine.
“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” according to the GAO, a congressional watchdog.
The second article of impeachment — for obstruction of Congress — relates to Trump’s refusal to provide witnesses and documents to House impeachment investigators in defiance of congressional subpoenas.
McConnell has been extremely critical of Trump’s impeachment by the Democratic-controlled House and pledged on Thursday that things would be different in the Senate.
“It was a transparently partisan performance from beginning to end,” McConnell said. “But it’s not what this process will be going forward.
“This chamber exists precisely so that we can look past the daily drama,” the Republican senator from Kentucky said. “The House’s hour is over. The Senate’s time is at hand.”
The two articles of impeachment were delivered to the Senate on Wednesday in a solemn procession by the seven House Democrats who will prosecute the case against the 45th US president.
“So sad, so tragic for our country, that the actions taken by the president to undermine our national security, to violate his oath of office and to jeopardize the security of our elections, has taken us to this place,” Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said as she signed the articles.
“This president will be held accountable,” she said. “No one is above the law.”
Pelosi held back on delivering the articles to the Senate as she pressured McConnell to agree to subpoena the witnesses and documents that the White House blocked from the House probe.
McConnell has refused to commit, saying the issue will only be decided after the trial’s opening arguments and questioning.
‘Con Job’
A Trump administration official told reporters they expect the trial to last no longer than two weeks, suggesting McConnell could use his 53-47 Republican majority to stifle calls for witnesses and quickly take the charges to a vote.
Trump ridiculed the investigation and trial on Wednesday, as he has for months.
“Here we go again, another Con Job by the Do Nothing Democrats,” he wrote on Twitter.
Democrats released documents this week that showed Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani worked with Ukrainian-born American Lev Parnas to pressure Kiev to investigate Biden.
They also showed the two, working with Ukrainian officials, trying to force out the US ambassador to the country, Marie Yovanovitch, eventually removed by Trump.
In a televised interview Wednesday, Parnas told MSNBC that “President Trump knew exactly what was going on.”
“He was aware of all of my movements. I wouldn’t do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani or the president,” Parnas said.
Aside from Schiff the prosecution team will include Judiciary Committee chair Jerry Nadler; House Democratic Caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries; Zoe Lofgren, a veteran of two previous impeachment investigations; and three others.
Source : Channels TV
Former president Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday lamented the rising cost of diesel, stressing that it has adversely affected his fish business.
Obasanjo, while speaking during a southwest fish farmers’ congress at the presidential library (OOPL) in Ogun State, noted that the high diesel price may turn fish farmers into bankruptcy.
Putting the current price of diesel at N800 a litre, the ex-President said the production of a kilogram of fish is N1,400.
“I am already sweating and if the situation does not go down, anybody that is using diesel, I don’t know your calculation, my calculation is that I cannot produce a kilo of fish with less than N1400. That’s about what it cost as of today. So, if I sell my fish around N1,400 I cannot make a profit,” the ex-President was quoted as saying in a statement by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi.
He added that farmers must not sell less than N1,500 as anything short of that would lead to “outright loss”.
“If we don’t come together as an association, nationally, we will sink individually. If we come together, we will swim and survive together.
“And while we are working on coming together, I thought that the situation has arisen whereby we have to do something urgently.
“The price of diesel has gone sky high because the management of this country is not what it should be. And it is as simple as that.
“Then, what will happen is that particularly those of us who have to use a bit of diesel in producing fish, we will completely go bankrupt, and when that happens, Nigerians will still have to eat fish.”
“And you will go jobless, poor, and indigent. So, what do we have to do? To come together… we want to sustain fish production, and we must be able to take care of those who are going to eat and those of us who are producing”, the former President said.
Fish production, according to him, would be out of reach, and “then people will be producing fish outside Nigeria and dump it here”.
The Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria (AMBCN) South-East chapter, has said it is set to withdraw its services from July 13, as directed by its national body.
The Zonal Chairman of the association, Chief Dominic Nwibe made this known in an interview with NAN on Wednesday in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
Recall that the National President of AMBCN, Malam Mansur Umar had also said members would begin a two-week strike from July 13, citing an increase in prices of bakery materials.
Following the directive, Chief Dominic said, “We had a zonal meeting in Abakaliki and decided to follow the directive which is supposed to last for two weeks.
“A bag of baking flour which hitherto cost N25,000 presently cost N28,000 and it is worrisome that it will keep increasing.
“A bag of sugar which hitherto cost N9,000 presently cost N30,000 while 20 litres of groundnut oil costs about N20,000″.
According to him, the members felt it was unnecessary to keep increasing the prices of bakery products such as bread to the detriment of customers.
“The customers would feel that we are greedy and we want to let the federal government know that the situation has become unbearable.
“We are asking for the liberalisation of the sugar importation process to break the monopoly by two or three firms.
“These firms import sugar and control its price mechanisms as the withdrawal of services will make our customers know we are telling the truth on reasons for price increases,” he added.
The zonal chairman regretted that the authorities blamed the high cost of materials on the economic effects of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
“We don’t see any justification to this assertion as flour for instance, can be sourced from nearby countries,” he said.
Also speaking, the south east Zonal Secretary of the association, Mr Okey Ezeanata said that bakers have been seriously affected by the development as most of them have closed shops”.
“The market forces have been unfair to us and as the time we increased prices of products in April till present, there have been several changes.
“We urge the federal government to allow mass participation in our materials’ importation process just like in the telecommunication sector,” he said.
NAN reports that the association alleged that the National Wheat Cultivation Committee already constituted is yet to be inaugurated after over one year.
Former Super Eagles and Shooting Stars Sports Club of Ibadan Goalkeeper, Abiodun Baruwa has revealed how the Ibadan based football club played vital role in the resuscitation of his football career.
Baruwa, who opened up on his stint with the Oluyole Warriors while featuring
on BCOS TV sports programme ‘Weekend Sports’ also disclosed that 3SC infused new lease of life into his dying career.
According to the retired footballer, his career was going down when he joined the 3SC from Stationery Stores but his life was turned around in Ibadan.
The ex- Super Eagles goalie presently based in London, added the hospitality of 3SC fans and the encouragement he got from the club’s officials under late Taiwo Ogunjobi made him regained his confidence, and this resulted in his subsequent call-ups to the national teams at different grades.
“What many people didn’t know is that my career was in decline before I got to Shooting Stars, but the late Taiwo Ogunjobi took me in as a son and the fans showed me love. And that inspired me to churn out good performances for the team. Consequently I was called up to play for the Nigerian national teams at different levels”, Baruwa said on the sports programme he featured via Skype.
“Because of the key role 3SC played in my football career, the club remain my darling team”, he added.
Expressing his dissatisfaction at the present plight of the club, the former 3SC goalkeeper encouraged its fans to keep supporting the club to enable it regain its top position.
Abiodun Baruwa, fondly called Omo Alhaja (Alhaja’s son) by Ibadan soccer fans, was part of the Shooting Stars team that slugged it out with Egyptian giants Zamalek at the CAF Champions League final in 1996 and was also a member of the Super Eagles squad to the France ’98 FIFA World Cup.
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