Here’s What America’s Three Black Senators Did As the Impeachment Trial Began

The United States Senate continued the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump with Democrats making their opening arguments. California Senator Kamala Harris, one of the nation’s three Black Senators, spoke forcefully about the responsibilities of her colleagues.

“It is incumbent on this generation to fight for a system of justice in which all are treated equally, and in that ongoing fight, we as the United States Senate must agree that we cannot speak about the ideals of equality and justice and then act in ways that violate those very principles.”

Twitter applauded Harris who ended her presidential campaign in early December.

Republican Senator Tim Scott wrote an opinion essay posted on the Fox News website. In the essay, the South Carolina lawmaker offered his thoughts on the Democrats’ motivation for impeaching President Trump, writing, “Impeachment not only attempts to remove the president from office now, but would bar him from running for office in the future, as well. Simply put, without impeachment, Democrats have no platform on which to run.”

Democrats accuse the President of abusing the power of his office by withholding military assistance from Ukraine until its President Volodoymyr Zelensky would investigate former Vice-President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who served on the board of directors for a gas company in Ukraine. The elder Biden is campaigning for the 2020 presidency.

As the prosecutors for the Democrats made their case against the President today, Senator Cory Booker, who suspended his presidential campaign last week, released annotations of several historical documents including the U.S. Constitution, the debates at the Constitutional Convention on impeachment, and President George Washington’s Farewell Address.

Booker added some levity to the day’s intensity by ribbing his fellow lawmakers who use Apple’s iPhone, snapping a picture of an apple tucked into his cubbie in the Senate cloackroom alongside the smartphones of his colleagues. Senate guidelines prohibit smartphones and other electronic devices in the Chambers during the impeachment trial.