Senate Democrats are making a final run at persuading at least a few GOP senators to call witnesses in President Donald Trumps impeachment trial as lawmakers grilled the defence team and House prosecutors in an attempt to shape the debate for a showdown vote later this week.
That next phase of the trial got underway on Wednesday, amid doubt about the outcome of a vote to subpoena former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton or others, including former Vice President Joe Biden’s son and the unnamed whistleblower who’s complaint launched the impeachment case.
“Don’t wait for the book,” lead House impeachment manager Adam Schiff said, referring to leaked revelations in Bolton’s manuscript that would bolster the Democrats case. “Don’t wait until March 17 when it is in black and white to find out the answer to your question.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is working behind the scenes to keep Republicans in line to reject a drive by Democrats to call witnesses in a pivotal vote as soon as that could come as soon as Friday. Defeating that motion would lead to a quick wrap-up of the trial before Trump’s ‘State of the Union’ address next Tuesday.
That outcome was thrown into question by the bombshell disclosure that Bolton wrote in a still-unpublished book that the president directly linked giving aid to Ukraine to getting the country’s new president to announce a probe of Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.
Question of motives
Democrats argued Trump’s motive was to help himself politically by tarnishing a serious challenger to his re-election.
Trump’s defence lawyers sought to dismiss that allegation by arguing it does not matter. Law professor Alan Dershowitz asserted that a president’s power is expansive, and he can not be impeached for taking actions that are partly motivated by a desire to help his political prospects.
“Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest,” Dershowitz said in response to a question from Republican Senator Ted Cruz. “And if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”
Any testimony by Bolton is unlikely to change the outcome of the trail — Trump’s acquittal. However, calling witnesses would extend the proceedings, and be potentially politically damaging to Trump and Senate Republicans.
McConnell told his colleagues at a hastily called meeting of GOP Senators on Tuesday afternoon that there were not yet 51 firm Republican votes to block calling witnesses, according a GOP aide. But senior Republicans were publicly more confident on Wednesday that the trial would soon end.
Pressure campaign
Under increased pressure from McConnell and the White House, the pool of potential Republican votes for fresh evidence continued to narrow. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican facing a tough re-election fight in November, said he’ll vote against witnesses. Another GOP holdout, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, said he is very, very unlikely to back subpoenas.
Some Trump loyalists were blunt.
“After watching the House cobble together a flimsy case and listening to all of the arguments from both sides, I do not believe we need additional testimony to prolong this trial,” Senator Mike Braun, an Indiana Republican, said in a statement.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said it is an uphill fight to get the votes for calling witnesses because the President and Mitch McConnell put huge pressure on these folks. “Still,” he said, “Democrats have a decent chance to win the fight.”
Three GOP Senators — Susan Collins, Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski — have expressed interest in hearing from Bolton, and they are being intensely lobbied by both sides, as are several others who have not committed one way or the other.
Crucial information
Romney said on Wednesday that Bolton is a crucial witness in deciding the impeachment case.
“I have a great deal of confidence in John Bolton,” Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, told reporters. He said that Bolton could answer key questions such as what explanation Trump gave advisers when he decided to delay military aid for Ukraine, and even whether the President himself told them the aid was held in order to encourage them to investigate the Bidens.
After she left a meeting with McConnell Wednesday morning, Murkowski refused to discuss her latest thinking with reporters.
The first question in Wednesday’s session came from Collins, co-signed by Murkowski and Romney, asking Trump’s counsel how they should consider various motives by Trump for his actions. As Collins rose to ask their question, other Senators paid keen attention.
Trump lawyer Patrick Philbin answered that if there are mixed motives, for both policy and political reasons, their case fails, and you can’t possibly have impeachment.
Many of the questions asked by the Senators in both parties seemed geared toward giving either side a rebuttal opportunity. Schumer asked House Democratic prosecutors whether there is a way to render a fair judgement without hearing from Bolton, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and others.
Schiff said there is no way for the trial to be fair without witnesses, and said senators should hear from Bolton himself to determine whether he knows of Trump’s real motives.
The White House kept up its own pressure campaign to end the trial quickly without Bolton’s testimony. Trump unleashed a series of tweets denigrating Bolton and warning Republicans against voting for witnesses, writing, “Don’t let the Dems play you!”
The National Security Council also wrote to Bolton’s lawyer last week saying that his book manuscript appears to contain significant amounts of classified information and can’t be published unless that material is deleted. The letter was obtained on Wednesday.
Schumer blasted some Republicans who say they do not want witnesses because it wont change the outcome. “A fair trial matters whatever the outcome,” Schumer said.
Key vote
On Wednesday, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin became the first Democrat to break ranks and say he would vote to call Hunter Biden as a witness if US Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial, deems him pertinent to the case. “I want to hear everything I can,” Manchin told MSNBC .
Manchin is one of three Democrats who are being closely watched for indications they would vote to acquit Trump. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat, and Alabama Democrat Doug Jones also have not indicated whether they think Trump is guilty of the House’s two articles of impeachment.
“I’m going to see how it ends up and judge the evidence I have before me,” said Jones, who faces voters in November in a heavily Republican state.
The impeachment charges alleged that Trump wanted Ukraine to initiate an investigation of Biden, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, and his son to help with the presidents re-election campaign.
Despite the lingering uncertainty on witnesses, South Dakota Republican Senator John Thune expressed confidence that the trial would get wrapped up quickly. He said on Wednesday that GOP leaders will know where Republican votes are on the matter of more witnesses well before the tally is taken.
The key votes will be held on Friday, first on whether to allow witness testimony and then to select witnesses. A simple majority of 51 senators will decide. Even if witnesses are called, no Republican has suggested Trump’s eventual acquittal is in question.
It would take 67 votes to convict Trump and remove him from office. Multiple GOP senators have said that even if Bolton’s account is true, it is not enough to convict.