After a roll call, Roberts administered the oath to the senators who as jurors in the trial will decide whether the 45th president should be convicted and removed from office on two charges: abuse of office and obstruction of Congress.

"Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, President of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws; so help you God?" Roberts asked.

After responding, "I do," each senator signed a book affirming their oath.

Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate majority leader from Kentucky, then adjourned the proceedings until 1 p.m. on January 21.

Trump is being sent a summons to appear in the makeshift courtroom of the Senate but is expected to be represented by two lawyers.

McConnell also set a January 18 deadline for members of the House of Representatives -- acting as prosecutors in the trial -- to file a trial brief with the secretary of the Senate.

The president can file his own trial brief by noon on January 20 and the House has until noon the following day to file a rebuttal.

Her calls come on foot of a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) which claims Trump broke the law by temporarily withholding military aid to Ukraine last year. According to the report, Trump held up the aid based on "his own policy priorities," in violation of the Impoundment Control Act.

Pelosi, who on Wednesday announced her team of prosecutors who will lead the impeachment case against Trump, seized on the report to bolster her case.

"The White House, the administration, broke - I'm saying this - broke the law," the senior Democrat told reporters on Thursday. "This reinforces, again, the need for documents and eyewitnesses in the Senate."
...
Republicans have ridiculed Pelosi and her fellow Democrats for first claiming in December that a speedy impeachment was a matter of "national security," and then for refusing to transmit the articles to the Senate and begin the trial. Pelosi withheld the articles for four weeks in a bid to pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell into accepting her terms for a trial, which included the option to call more witnesses than House Democrats had questioned during their inquiry.

McConnell resisted, and accused Pelosi of attempting to gather extra information to bolster a weak case against Trump.

"First, Democrats spent weeks saying the House case was totally convincing," he said on Tuesday. "Now, the opposite: They say the House case is so thin that if the Senate judges what the House actually voted on, it's a 'cover-up.'"

The Republican-controlled Senate is widely expected to acquit Trump. None of the upper house's 53 Republicans have voiced support for removing the president from office, and a two-thirds majority is required to oust Trump. The trial is slated to begin next week.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin made a joint statement last week regarding the civil war raging in Libya to "declare a sustainable ceasefire, supported by the necessary measures to be taken for stabilizing the situation on the ground and normalizing daily life in Tripoli and other cities." However, as I said in last week's article, Russia has little influence over the Libyan National Army (LNA) and there is no incentive for General Khalifa Haftar to accept any terms made in any proposed ceasefire agreement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had to admit to reporters that talks last night in Moscow "aimed at reaching an agreement on an unconditional and open ceasefire in Libya failed to make significant progress Monday, despite overall progress on the issue."

The ceasefire talks were held separately as neither Haftar or Fayez al-Sarraj, the ethnic Turk leader of the Turkish-backed Muslim Brotherhood and internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli, wanted to be at the same table. The Russian delegation met with Haftar and the Turkish delegation held a similar meeting with Sarraj. Haftar declined to discuss any possible withdrawal of his troops from the outskirts of Tripoli and asked for more time to consider the parameters of the ceasefire proposal. Haftar made it clear that his army was at an advantage and did not have to make any concessions, but responded positively to the ceasefire that was in place at midnight on Sunday, despite isolated incidents of fire being exchanged. He even criticized Turkey for its involvement in the country and for the support to the GNA, which defends Tripoli with jihadists who also fought in Syria.

Despite initial positive signs at last night's meeting held in Moscow for a ceasefire between the GNA, the LNA, it quickly became explosive. The hope of signing a ceasefire utterly failed with Haftar leaving Russia and military operations in Tripoli intensifying. This occurred because of the insistent unrealistic demands by the GNA, such as calling for Haftar's forces to return to positions they held all the way back in April 2019 when the operation to liberate Tripoli began. This of course was rejected by the LNA since they would lose major territorial gains made.

"The document presented in front of me was a document of shame and betrayal, something the Government of National Accord were happy to sign, but our real Libyan hands never could," said Haftar when explaining why he did not sign the ceasefire.

It is a fact that the big players on the Libyan issue are Russia, despite having little influence over the LNA and Turkey. The U.S. is watching discreetly and remotely while the Europeans are acting powerless to react vigorously and to get enough resolutions. Despite the failure of the ceasefire agreement, Russia has proven once again to be a country that continually works towards peace initiatives, just as it consistently does in Syria through a variety of forums, such as the Astana Peace Process with Turkey and Iran. Russia would have known the ceasefire would not be signed; however, it provided an opportunity to strengthen relations with Turkey as Moscow proves it is willing to actively acknowledge and attempt to deal on issues of importance with Ankara.

It appears that Russia is becoming the power to pacify Turkey after it creates crises. Although Russia is working closely with Turkey to bring peace to Syria and Libya, it cannot be forgotten that Turkey was one of the main players in sowing instability in both Syria and Libya. The militancy against the legitimate government of Syria would not have been possible without Turkish funding, arming and equipment of jihadists, as well as being a base for anti-government forces to mobilize and train. In Libya, the GNA whose stint in power has gone well beyond its two-year mandate, would not have survived for as long as it has without Turkish assistance. While Turkey manufactures crises across the region, it is increasingly appearing that Russia is the one to clean up, or attempting to clean up the chaos created.

Although Moscow, at no fault of its own, failed to convince the LNA to sign a ceasefire agreement, its attempts demonstrate the importance Russia is placing in its relations with Turkey. As Turkey occupies strategic space in Eurasia and controls the Bosporus Straits, strong relations with Ankara is critical for Moscow. For the time being, such relations are crucial for finding peaceful solutions, but Moscow's patience will surely be limited if Turkey continues to create crises.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has urged Persian Gulf nations to work toward the creation of a joint security mechanism, noting that Moscow was concerned about the tense standoff in the region.

"We have been suggesting to the Gulf countries to think about collective security mechanisms, something like OSCE for Europe", Lavrov told the international Raisina Dialogue conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.

"It´s not just 'let´s not fight with each other'", Lavrov said, adding that the initiative is about transparency and cooperation, and suggesting that more international players should be involved.

Developing nations, absent from the UN Security Council, enjoy greater representation in the G20 - and its emergence shows that the elitist Group of Seven is steadily losing significance, the Russian Foreign Minister suggested.

The Group of 20 - which includes the G7 countries as well as the five-member bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) - proved workable, especially when developing countries "have grievances regarding the lack of progress in reforming the Security Council," Sergey Lavrov told an audience during his trip to New Delhi.

"The creation of G20 was recognition that G7 can no longer decide any issue of any significance."

"I would say the deficiency - the main, and probably the only, deficiency of the Security Council - is underrepresentation of the developing countries," Lavrov acknowledged.

Russia has always backed the accession of two emerging economic giants - India and Brazil - to the council, he said.

"Our position is that the purpose of the reform is to make sure that the developing countries have a better treatment in the central organ of the United Nations."