McConnell says Senate will put Trump on trial if House votes to impeach

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on CNBC Monday that the Senate would have "no choice" but to put President Trump on trial if the House votes to pass articles of impeachment.

"Well, under the Senate rules, we're required to take it up if the House does go down that path, and we'll follow the Senate rules ... It's a Senate rule related to impeachment that would take 67 votes to change, so I would have no choice but to take it up. How long you're on it is a whole different matter, but I would have no choice but to take it up, based on a Senate rule on impeachment."
— McConnell

Why it matters: McConnell previously said in March that the Senate would take up impeachment if articles passed the House, but this is the first time he has confirmed that point since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry over the Trump-Ukraine scandal. There was speculation that McConnell would refuse to put Trump on trial.

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Updated 1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

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In pictures: Storm Zeta churns inland after lashing Louisiana

Debris on the streets as then-Hurricane Zeta passes over in Arabi, Louisiana, on Oct. 28. It's the third hurricane to hit Louisiana in about two months, after Laura and Delta. Photo: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

Tropical Storm Zeta has killed at least two people, triggered flooding, downed powerlines and caused widespread outages since making landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday.

The big picture: A record 11 named storms have made landfall in the U.S. this year. Zeta is the fifth named storm to do so in Louisiana in 2020, the most ever recorded. It weakened t0 a tropical storm early Thursday, as it continued to lash parts of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle with heavy rains and strong winds.

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Rebecca Falconer
3 hours ago - World

Taiwan reaches a record 200 days with no local coronavirus cases

Catholics go through containment protocols including body-temperature measurement and hands-sanitisation before entering the Saint Christopher Parish Church, Taipei City, Taiwan, in July. Photo: Ceng Shou Yi/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Taiwan on Thursday marked no locally transmitted coronavirus cases for 200 days, as the island of 23 million people's total number of infections reported stands at 550 and the COVID-19 death toll at seven.

Why it matters: Nowhere else has reached such a milestone. While COVID-19 cases surge across the U.S. and Europe, Taiwan's last locally transmitted case was on April 12. Experts credit tightly regulated travel, early border closure, "rigorous contact tracing, technology-enforced quarantine and universal mask wearing" and the island state's previous experience with the SARS virus for the achievement, per Bloomberg.

Go deeper: As Taiwan's profile rises, so does risk of conflict with China

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