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Could censure have replaced impeachment over Ukraine?
Summary
A retrospective on a Senate proposal floated on 3 February 2020, as the impeachment trial over pressure on Ukraine continued.
What did a censure of Donald Trump offer that impeachment did not? On 4 February 2020, that question hung over the Senate trial, a day after Democratic Senator Joe Manchin asked colleagues to consider censure as an alternative to removal.
According to the reports of 3 February, Manchin's proposal concerned Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate domestic political rivals. Manchin was considered friendly with the White House, which gave the suggestion a particular weight: it came from a Democrat seen as open to dialogue with the president, not from a committed opponent.
The proposal also showed that Ukraine, though the subject of the pressure, was in practice a matter of US domestic argument. The debate was about how Washington should judge its president's conduct, with censure presented as a lesser rebuke than impeachment.
On the same day, attention in the region also turned to Idlib, where Syrian shelling killed Turkish personnel and Turkish forces retaliated. Russia's defence ministry said Turkey had moved troops without notifying it, and President Erdoğan said Russia should stand aside. The two stories were separate, but both showed how quickly diplomatic positions were hardening.
