Jan 20, 2020

Trump to attend Davos amid impeachment trial

Jacob Knutson

President boarding Air Force One on Jan. 14. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

President Trump departs for Davos, Switzerland, on Monday night to attend the World Economic Forum, placing him thousands of miles away from Washington as the Senate hashes out the rules of his impeachment trial.

Why it matters: Senators on Tuesday will determine the rules that dictate the course of the trial, including how much time lawyers will have to make arguments and whether witnesses will be able to testify.

Details: The leaders he will meet include Iraqi President Barham Salih, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Swiss Confederation President Simonetta Sommaruga and Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq.

  • Trump will also meet Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum founder, according to Reuters.

The big picture: Trump has been away from Washington at key moments of the impeachment process. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the impeachment inquiry while he attended the United Nations General Assembly last fall.

  • The House Judiciary Committee held its first impeachment hearing in December while the president was at NATO summit in the United Kingdom.

Between the lines: The forum will give Trump a platform to tout the "phase one" trade deal the U.S. and China signed last week.

Of note: This is Trump's first return to Davos since 2018, USA Today reports. Trump did not attend the 2019 forum because it occurred during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Go deeper: What's next in the impeachment witness battle

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Dave Lawler

Trump ignores impeachment, touts economy in campaign-style Davos speech

Photo: Facrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND — President Trump diverged sharply from the tone of this week's World Economic Forum in at least two ways during his opening session speech on Tuesday — he was exuberant about the state of the U.S. economy and dismissive of the threat from climate change.

Between the lines: Trump didn't mention impeachment in a campaign-style address in which he claimed to have launched a U.S. "economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen before."

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Dave Lawler

What's worrying the Davos crowd

Reproduced from PwC’s Annual Global CEO Survey; Chart: Axios Visuals

DAVOS — A parade of billionaires, CEOs, world leaders and hangers-on has now arrived in Davos, Switzerland, bearing skis, packed schedules and deep concerns about the global economy.

  • PwC's annual Global CEO survey — 1,581 CEOs across 83 territories — was conducted in the fall and released tonight as the World Economic Forum opened. It makes for some pretty alarming reading.
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Rashaan Ayesh

Trump says national security concerns preempt impeachment witnesses

President Trump said Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he'd "rather go the long way" with his Senate impeachment trial and have former national security adviser John Bolton testify — but argued that national security concerns preempt it.

"If you think about it, John, he knows some of my thoughts. He knows what I think about leaders, what happens if he reveals what I think about a certain leader and it's not very positive and then I have to deal on behalf of the country, it's going to be very hard, going to make the job very hard." 
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