Key Republicans could tip trial vote toward witnesses

Key Republican senators who could tip President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial toward summoning more witnesses played an over-sized role in the final hours of debate Thursday night with pointed questions ahead of crucial votes.

A vote on witnesses, expected Friday, could lead to an abrupt end of the trial with the expected acquittal. Or it could bring days, if not weeks more argument as Democrats press to hear testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton and others.

Any four Republicans could join with Democrats to demand taking more time for testimony.

Sen. Lisa Murkowksi of Alaska drew a reaction when she asked simply: “Why should this body not call Ambassador Bolton?”

GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee captured attention just before the dinner break when he questioned partisanship in the proceedings thus far. A spokesman confirmed to The Associated Press that Alexander would announce his decision on the witness vote shortly after the end of Thursday’s questions.

Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican whose vote on witnesses was considered in the balance, wanted to know why House

Democrats withdrew a subpoena for a deputy national security adviser they wanted to hear from in the impeachment inquiry.

In response to Alexander and others, Democrat Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, a congressional staffer during Watergate and now a House prosecutor, told the senators that the Nixon impeachment also started as a partisan inquiry. A bipartisan consensus emerged only after Republicans — including staunch Nixon supporters — saw enough evidence to change their minds, she said.

“They couldn’t turn away from the evidence that their president had committed abuse of power and they had to vote to impeach him,” Lofgren said. Richard Nixon resigned before he was impeached.

While disappointed that House Republicans did not join Democrats in voting to impeach Trump, she said the Senate — “the greatest deliberative body on the planet” — has a new opportunity.

Alexander, after his question Thursday night, consulted with a key staff aide to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. As the senators broke for dinner Alexander and Murkowski met privately.

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah is also among those being closely watched.

Trump was impeached by House last month on charges that he abused his power like no other president, jeopardizing Ukraine and U.S.-Ukraine relations. Democrats say Trump asked he vulnerable ally to investigate Joe Biden and debunked theories of 2016 election interference, temporarily halting American security aid to the country as it battled Russia at its border. The second article of impeachment says Trump then obstructed the House probe in a way that threatened the nation’s three-branch system of checks and balances.

Thursday’s testimony included soaring pleas to the senators-as-jurors who will decide Trump’s fate, to either stop a president who Democrats say has tried to cheat in the upcoming election and will again, or to shut down impeachment proceedings that Republicans insist were never more than a partisan attack.

“Let’s give the country a trial they can be proud of,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead prosecutor for House Democrats. Americans, he said, know what it takes for a fair trial. He offered to take just one week for depositions of new witnesses, sparking new discussions.

Trump attorney Eric Herschmann declared the Democrats are only prosecuting the president because they can’t beat him in 2020.

“We trust the American people to decide who should be our president,” Herschmann said. “Enough is Enough. Stop all of this.”