Democrats And GOP Headed For Holiday Standoff
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We, at the very minimum, will require votes.</s>SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Look, we're at an impasse. We can't do anything until the speaker sends the papers over.</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: The impeachment standoff apparently going to last into the new year. What Democrats are demanding and why Republicans are not budging.</s>ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? Well, keep on dreaming. But some parts of the country, they're going to be facing wicked weather for the holiday.</s>POLICE OFFICER: Get out of the car.</s>DAVID WARD, SUSPECTED CARJACKER: All right, I'm getting out, I'm getting out. (Screaming)</s>JOHNS: New video of a deadly confrontation between California deputies and a suspected carjacker. It turns out the man was driving his own car.</s>KOSIK: Good morning, this is EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.</s>JOHNS: And I'm Joe Johns. It is 30 minutes past the hour. Not much holiday spirit in Washington this morning. Congress seems to be headed toward a long standoff over the framework for a Senate impeachment trial. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer warning Democrats will stand firm on their demand for more witnesses and documents.</s>SCHUMER: We, at the very minimum, will require votes from all the senators on each of the witnesses and about each of these sets of documents. And I don't think my colleagues, Democrat or Republican, are going to -- going to want to vote to withhold evidence in such an important trial.</s>KOSIK: It would take 20 Republican votes to remove President Trump but only four would have to side with Democrats to compel witnesses or documents. At the moment, though, it is unlikely Republicans will budge. Congress is not slated to return to Washington until January sixth. Officials are prepared for several weeks without any resolution to the face-off. Here's congressional reporter Lauren Fox.</s>LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Both sides digging in, in Washington, over when and if the Senate impeachment trial will start in January. There are still questions looming as everyone is waiting on Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, to send over those two articles of impeachment. And, Democrats still insisting on getting witnesses, even as majority leader Mitch McConnell makes it clear he needs Nancy Pelosi to send over those articles before he makes his next move.</s>MCCONNELL: It seems to me a rather absurd position to say after you've impeached the president you won't send the papers over to the Senate for the impeachment trial mandated by the Constitution. And look, we're at an impasse. We can't do anything until the speaker sends the papers over, so everybody enjoy the holidays.</s>FOX: And there was more fiery back and forth in Washington on Monday. This, as Chuck Schumer sent a letter to his colleagues arguing that they need to be negotiating witnesses now and not wait until the start of the Senate impeachment trial. Of course, Republicans have been arguing that what they are going to do is something very similar to what they did during the Clinton impeachment trial. You have the House managers make their case on the Democratic side, then you have the president's lawyers defending him on the Senate floor. Then you would make a decision about witnesses. But all sides, at this point, digging in. No sign that the stalemate will break anytime soon -- Joe and Alison.</s>JOHNS: Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill, thanks for that. And there's more. House Democrats raising the prospect of impeaching President Trump again. The suggestion coming in a court filing from the House Judiciary Committee seeking to force testimony from White House counsel Don McGahn. The committee says McGahn could shed light on alleged obstruction of justice by the president in the Robert Mueller investigation. That charge was not included in the articles of impeachment passed last week.</s>KOSIK: Earlier Monday, the Justice Department argued in its own filing the House impeachment ends any urgency to tie up the McGahn case and that the courts should not get involved. That's even though Republicans argue Democrats should have gone to court to resolve impeachment issues. The McGahn case is expected to be heard on January third.</s>JOHNS: So we're going to have more on this ahead. Plus, a tragic end to the search for a woman missing since October when she told a friend she was involved in a shootout.