GOP senators believe they have the votes to block witnesses
By: BY ALEXANDER BOLTON
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
It was clear to Senate Republicans on Wednesday after a morning meeting between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that the question of having additional witnesses is settled, and the Senate will vote Friday to wrap up the impeachment trial of President Trump .
There was no discussion of witnesses at a Senate GOP lunch meeting Wednesday, which was held a couple hours after McConnell and Murkowski met for about 20 to 30 minutes.
That was seen as a sign by several senators that Democrats will fail to convince four Republicans to join them in calling for witnesses. Without a vote to hear from witnesses, the trial could end as soon as Friday.
“We’re going to get it done by Friday, hopefully,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said following the meeting.
Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), emerging from the lunch, said, “I think I can say the mood is good.”
Braun expressed confidence that McConnell will be able to keep his conference unified enough to defeat a motion to consider subpoenas for additional witnesses and documents.
“If I had to guess, no witnesses,” he said.
“We’ll be in a place where I think everyone is going to have their mind made up and I believe that we’ll be able to move to a verdict, and the witness question will be clear at that point,” Braun added.
Murkowski did not attend the lunch.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who has been the most outspoken advocate for calling additional witnesses, declined to comment as he left the lunch.
Romney and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) are both expected to back witnesses. Murkowski has been seen as a third possible vote, though she had not announced any decision.
Instead of discussing the possibility of having former national security adviser John Bolton appear as a witness in the trial at Wednesday's meeting, lawmakers talked about voting Friday to move quickly to an up-or-down vote on two articles of impeachment.
“There was no discussion about that today,” Rounds said.
Instead, Rounds said the discussion was about how “we’re moving forward.”
A report by The New York Times that said Bolton in his forthcoming book writes that Trump had linked the withholding of aid to Ukraine to that country conducting investigations of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden had given new energy to the witness debate.
Democrats have been clamoring to hear Bolton as a witness at the trial.
Senators are asking questions to the House impeachment team and Trump's defense lawyers during today's impeachment session.
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Case Dismissed we hope.....and standing tall!
The trial will resume at 1 p.m. Eastern today. A vote on whether to hear from new witnesses is expected on Friday.
Rules of civility apply
They never had a chance of a fatal Senate vote and knew that from the start - the left is just looking to damage four rinos.
Let the screaming at the sky on the left commence!
They have no one but themselves to blame. If the House would have followed the Constitution and done their damn job in the first place this wouldn't even be an issue. But they were too lazy/stupid to allow the courts to play it out to compel witness testimony; and based their very loose articles of impeachment on 2nd and third hand information; and by ignoring testimony from their own witnesses- which the Defense used to punch holes in the Democratic narrative.
No, they needed to get this impeachment out before the general elections; otherwise it would lose all of it's effectiveness influencing the election. Of course they are so short sighted they failed to grasp that all future Democrats to hold the WH will be held to the same standards for articles of impeachment.
This is probably the best outcome for Democrats. They don't actually want witnesses. They want to play the victim and engage in conspiracy theories, and this is their best hook. As we saw during the Mueller fiasco, they love touting "secret evidence" that will supposedly change the game.
If they actually believed his testimony mattered and could help remove Trump they would have pushed for Bolton's testimony in the House and fought for it in the Courts. But they felt, rightly, that his testimony wouldn't move the ball on substantively.
But, even if this is Democrats best possible outcome, Republicans are right to shut the fiasco down now. Even if you believe everything Bolton said is true, Trump's conduct is not a removable offense. So why spend additional time distracting from the nation's business witnesses if the Democrats theory, even if proven true, doesn't amount to a removable offense?
This is why motions to dismiss exist. When the prosecution's case, when taken in the best possible light towards the prosecution, can't support a guilty verdict, the case gets thrown out because to continue is pointless. It's clear the Democrats case, with or without Bolton, is futile.
75% of Americans want witnesses at this trial.
How is that fact supposed to help Trump's re-election?
This whole thing has made Trump and his supporters look horrible. Bad for GOP controlling any branch of government beginning in Jan of 2021.
true enough. but we want to hear testimony from these people
First, if Joe and Hunter Biden did anything that appears to be remotely illegal; then Trump was right to demand Ukraine investigate. Kills the Democratic narrative right then and there.
Secondly, if Schiff manufactured the whistleblower then this whole investigation started as a con job. Oh, and lying as a whistleblower is still a criminal act.
The whistleblower is already in trouble for lying on his complaint about not meeting Schiff's people.
And where do you come up with your 75% of Americans figure?
I am sure he has a poll somewhere, by someone, using a slanted as polling method as they could find to back his assertion.
He still hasn't learned from 2016. Polls can be made to say anything the pollster wants. They aren't reliable.
Well, they're in luck. We've already had lots of witnesses. Their testimony has been made available to the senators and used extensively in arguments by both sides.
I am just curious,
when exactly did you start thinking your opinion matters to trump supporters?
I haven't heard a compelling argument for more witnesses. It's not as if something needs to be clarified by anyone. The House already had what? 17 witnesses? Based on that, they brought impeachment charges against Trump, saying their case was clear and overwhelming.
Now it's not? Now they need to have more witnesses or the trial is unfair? That's a pretty weak position. As near as I can tell, this is the same old tactic of "one more witness" or "one more investigation" that we always hear. They pulled this same crap in the Kavanaugh hearings.
18
Rep. Adam B. Schiff , California Democrat, and other impeachment managers repeatedly talk about the 17 witnesses interviewed during the House ’s secretive depositions. But they do not mention an 18th witness, Michael Atkinson , the intelligence community’s inspector general who has firsthand knowledge of the origins of the whistleblower complaint that led to the impeachment.