As White House wraps up defense, support grows for witnesses in Trump’s Senate trial
Crucial vote may come later this week
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s defense team wrapped up arguments Tuesday by framing the Senate impeachment trial as a dangerously partisan exercise by House Democrats that failed to produce enough evidence to justify Mr. Trump’s removal from office.
But requests to obtain that evidence, House Democrats shot back, have been blocked by the Republican-controlled Senate.
That opposition appeared to be weakening ahead of a critical vote on witnesses and documents scheduled later this week.
Multiple media outlets Tuesday evening reported that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., indicated in a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans that he did not yet have enough votes to defeat the effort to call additional witnesses and evidence.
Support among Republicans for a deal to call a number of witnesses grew amid revelations this week that John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, detailed in his upcoming memoir the president’s actions to pressure Ukraine.
Leaked details published by The New York Times revealed Mr. Bolton believed Mr. Trump froze nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine to pressure the American ally to investigate a political rival. The motivations behind the freeze on aid, which the White House team has disputed, was at the core of the
House Democrats’ impeachment case.
Several moderate Republicans, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, said Mr. Bolton’s manuscript makes a stronger case for witnesses.
Some more conservative members have jumped on board. On Tuesday, Sen. James Lankford, ROkla., called on the White House to provide the Senate with a copy of Mr. Bolton’s book draft.
“I am encouraging the White House, anybody that I can talk to, to say: That manuscript is pertinent, and we should get access to that manuscript to see what they’re actually saying,” Mr. Lankford said in a video posted to Facebook on Tuesday.
Even Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., floated a “one-for-one” deal in which the two parties would each call an equal number of witnesses, according to multiple sources. His office declined to comment.
At least four Senate Republicans would have to join all 45 Senate Democrats plus two Independent senators who vote with the Democrats, to approve a resolution to call witnesses. That decision is expected Friday.
The trial now turns to a two-day questioning period, in which senators will have up to eight hours each day to interrogate both sides, Mr. McConnell said.
Senators will submit their questions in writing to Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial. Mr. McConnell told the senators their questions should be “thoughtful and brief.”
Justice Roberts said he wants the answers from House Democrats and White House counsel to be no more than five minutes, adhering to the standard set in former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial in 1999.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers used less than two hours Tuesday to drive home their final points. In total, the defense team used less than half of its allotted 24 hours, while House Democrats consumed nearly all of it.
House Democrats have asserted that Mr. Trump abused his power by pressuring Ukraine to announce an investigation into Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company on whose board sat Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden. Mr. Biden is running in the Democratic primary for a chance to oppose Mr. Trump in this year’s presidential election.
After a 12-week impeachment inquiry last fall, the House of Representatives voted in December to impeach Mr. Trump on two articles: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The defense team has argued the president had legitimate concerns about corruption in Ukraine and the requests for a probe into Burisma and Hunter Biden were proper.
In their closing arguments, the lawyers warned of the dangerous precedent Mr. Trump’s impeachment would set. White House Counsel Pat A. Cipollone said the president’s removal from office would inflict “serious and lasting damage” on the country.
“Why not trust the American people with this decision?” Mr. Cipollone said to all 100 senators before him.
“Why tear up their ballots?”
In his final minutes, Mr. Cipollone rolled video of House Democrats condemning Mr. Clinton’s impeachment using similar language Republicans are using today.
While Mr. Bolton’s book consumed the hallway chatter off the Senate floor, the White House defense virtually ignored the revelations.
One mention came from famed lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who took the floor Monday to argue presidents cannot be impeached if they are not found to have committed a crime. That reasoning, questioned by impeachment scholars, has been adopted by some Republicans to shut down requests for witnesses.
“Nothing in the Bolton revelation, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power,” Mr. Dershowitz said.
After the session ended Tuesday, House Democrats held a press conference to keep up the pressure.
“You simply can’t have a fair trial without witnesses,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, DCalif., who has led the team of six House impeachment managers in the Senate trial.