The end of the beginning is near

Hello again, OnPolitics readers! The impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump is front and center yet again as we could see some historic action this week.  

What's next in impeachment? Full House vote this week

A historic vote to impeach Trump is expected in the Democrat-led House of Representatives, a move likely to trigger a trial to remove the president from power early next year in the Republican-controlled Senate. 

On Friday, the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress – moving the articles to a full House vote.  The vote could happen Wednesday or Thursday, according to Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the chairman of the House Rules Committee.

Impeaching Trump equates to nothing more than approving formal charges against him, but is important because it requires the Senate to hold a trial over whether to convict the president. Impeachment also carries a historical weight because just two presidents in U.S. history – Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 – have been impeached.

• 658-page document: House Judiciary Committee releases full impeachment report before vote

Amidst concerns, Democrats outline potential framework for Senate trial

As Bart Jansen noted, some House Democrats have voiced concerns about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saying he is working closely with the White House about how to structure the trial. Senators serve essentially as a jury, but Democrats on the Judiciary Committee who recommended articles of impeachment are worried McConnell will make decisions favoring his fellow Republican, President Trump.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said if the House sends articles of impeachment to the Senate, every senator will take an oath to render "impartial justice." 

Christal Hayes explained that Schumer outlined his priorities and a possible structure for a weeks-long Senate trial in a three-page letter to McConnell. It marked the first formal move between the two leaders to negotiate a compromise on an impeachment trial.

In the letter, Schumer asks that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, the judge who will be tasked with presiding over the trial, issue subpoenas for four key officials who were called by House Democrats and refused to appear. Those include Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff and John Bolton, former national security advisor.

Additional Trump impeachment stories 

Lots of people have had  much to say about the impeachment of Trump in the last few days. 

• At least five aides to New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew, the lone Democrat to come out against the impeachment of Trump, are resigning after multiple sources said the moderate is switching parties to join the GOP.
• A town hall recognizing strides toward getting the U.S. government to recognize the Armenian Genocide in Glendale, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles, was usurped by protesters angry with Rep. Adam Schiff for taking a leading role in House Democrats' quest to impeach Trump.
• A group of more than two dozen Democratic freshmen legislators want Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan — who had been a Republican until he became an independent this year — to help present the case for impeaching Trump to the Senate. 
• Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and 2016 Republican primary candidate Carly Fiorina said on CNN that she thinks it "vital" Trump be impeached but she also did not rule out voting for him in 2020. 
• Trump has repeatedly said the anonymous whistleblower, whose complaint sparked the impeachment inquiry, was "almost completely wrong" about his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. That claim scored "Lie of the Year" from fact-checking website PolitiFact.
• The Republicans for the Rule of Law debuted an impeachment-based billboard in New York City's Times Square asking "What is Trump hiding?" The group told USA TODAY it also displayed the ad in Congressional districts of House Republicans who have shown signs of independence from Trump, and whom the group thinks could stand up and call on the administration to let the witnesses testify. 

Two polls tell two different stories

Trump, the first modern president to face impeachment during his first term in the White House, now leads his top Democratic rivals in his bid for a second term, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds.

The national survey showed Trump defeating former Vice President Joe Biden by 3 percentage points, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by 5 points, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren by 8 points.

However, a new Fox News poll released Sunday revealed that Trump would lose to Biden, Warren, Sanders, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, by varying amounts. 

The two polls show different responses to the question about whether Trump should be removed from office as well, though the numbers are close. In the Fox News poll, 50% of registered voters say Trump should be impeached in the House, convicted in the Senate and removed from office and 41% percent say the House should vote against impeaching the president. Those surveyed in the USA TODAY/Suffolk poll oppose by 51%-45% a Senate vote to convict Trump.

More from the world of politics

It's not all impeachment all the time here at OnPolitics. Here are some more headlines from over the weekend and Monday:

• Lev Parnas, an associate of Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is fighting federal prosecutors' attempt to put him in jail as he awaits trial on charges he broke campaign finance law.
• Trump said Monday he looks forward to debating his Democratic opponent in the 2020 presidential race — but maybe not in an event organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
• The Supreme Court refused to consider whether state and local governments can make it a crime for homeless people to sleep outside. The court's refusal to take up the issue is a setback to some states and cities with burgeoning homelessness.
• A federal judge rejected claims by former national security adviser Michael Flynn that government prosecutors forced him to plead guilty to crimes he did not commit and then hid evidence that would've exonerated him.
• David Shulkin, Trump's first secretary of Veterans Affairs described what it was like to work in the current administration and to be axed, by tweet. 
• Rebecca Morin profiles Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang and explains Yang's rise to prominence is in large part due to his devoted supporters. 
• Finally, former President Barack Obama bluntly said there would be "significant improvement across the board" if countries were led by women, and that "old men" needed to get "out of the way."

- Until Tuesday, OnPolitics readers