US Senate Democrats are pushing for testimony from top White House officials in a rare impeachment trial that is fast becoming the next battleground ahead of a US House of Representatives voting that is all but certain to result in US President Donald Trump’s impeachment.
Trump faces two articles of impeachment by House Democrats: abuse of power and obstruction of the US Congress.
They point to Trump pressuring Ukraine to investigate former US vice president and presidential candidate Joe Biden, while withholding as leverage military aid the country relies on to counter Russia, as well as his efforts to block the House investigation.
Only the fourth US president to be charged in impeachment proceedings, Trump has insisted he has done nothing wrong.
Votes are set for tomorrow in the House, but already attention is turning to the Senate trial, where the Republicans are expected to acquit Trump next month.
“There ought to be a fair trial where the whole truth comes out, and I’m going to work to get that done,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters in New York on Sunday.
The top Senate Democrat called for new evidence and testimony from former US national security adviser John Bolton, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and two others, as part of a detailed proposal outlined in a letter on Sunday to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to spur negotiations with the Republicans.
“This trial must be one that is fair, that considers all of the relevant facts,” Schumer wrote. “The trial must be one that not only hears all of the evidence and adjudicates the case fairly; it must also pass the fairness test with the American people.”
Trump has expressed interest in a robust trial that would not only clear him of the charges in the Senate but also vindicate him, but his desire for a lengthy proceeding is something Senate Republicans are hoping to avoid.
A spokesman for McConnell said the two Senate leaders are expected to meet.
They are expected to discuss how to conduct the trial, much as the Democrats and Republicans did during former US president Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
“Leader McConnell has made it clear he plans to meet with Leader Schumer to discuss the contours of a trial soon,” McConnell spokesman Doug Andres said. “That timeline has not changed.”
The witness list would be key to the proceedings.
Despite Republican control in the Senate, McConnell’s slim 53-47 majority limits his ability to steer the impeachment trial. It takes 51 votes to approve most motions in the proceedings, even to set the rules, which means the leader can only afford to lose two Republican senators and still pass his preferred options.
Some Republican senators might feel pressure from Democrats to call additional witnesses or expand the proceedings, especially those up for re-election next year in swing states where voters are split in their views of Trump.
At the same time, Democrats face political risks if Republicans lean into Trump’s demands for a showier trial, summoning Biden or his son, Hunter Biden, or others to appear.
Republicans claim without evidence that Hunter Biden’s work for a gas company in Ukraine merited the investigation Trump sought from that country’s officials.
The attention on the Senate comes as the vote is all but certain in the House tomorrow.
It appears US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who once resisted the undertaking unless it had support from Republicans, now has the votes needed from Democrats alone to impeach Trump.
Trump lashed out at the speaker, tweeting at one point on Sunday that “Nancy’s teeth were falling out of her mouth,” suggesting she was unable “to think!”
Pelosi, who spent the weekend leading a bipartisan congressional delegation in Europe to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, did not directly respond.
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