U.S. Senate votes against calling witnesses in Trump impeachment trial, clearing way for acquittal

By Richard Cowan and Patricia Zengerle

 

U.S. President Donald Trump walks out from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., before his departure to Michigan and Iowa, January 30, 2020. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Friday voted against calling witnesses and collecting new evidence in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, clearing the way for Trump's almost certain acquittal in the coming days.

 

By a vote of 51-49, the Republican-controlled Senate stopped Democrats' drive to hear testimony from witnesses like former national security adviser John Bolton, who is thought to have first-hand knowledge of Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.

 

Those actions prompted the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to formally charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in December.

 

That made Trump only the third president in U.S. history to be impeached. He denies wrongdoing and has accused Democrats of an "attempted coup."

 

The Senate is almost certain to acquit Trump of the impeachment charges, as a two-thirds Senate majority is required to remove Trump and none of the chamber's 53 Republicans have indicated they will vote to convict.

 

In Friday's vote on witnesses, two Republicans, Mitt Romney and Susan Collins, broke with their party and voted with Democrats.

 

Trump is seeking re-election in a Nov. 3 vote. Biden is a leading contender for the Democratic nomination to face him.

 

The timing of that final vote was unclear. Senators said it could take place any time between late Friday and Wednesday. Republican senators had said it could come late on Friday or on Saturday.

 

The vote on witnesses came hours after the New York Times reported new details from Bolton's unpublished book manuscript in which the former aide said Trump directed him in May to help in a pressure campaign to get Ukraine to pursue investigations that would benefit Trump politically.

 

Democrats said the news illustrated the need for the Senate to put Bolton under oath.

 

"A trial is supposed to be a quest for the truth. Let's not fear what we will learn," said Adam Schiff, the lead Democratic prosecutor.

 

But Republicans said they had heard enough. Some said they did not think that Trump did anything wrong, while Senators Lamar Alexander and Rob Portman said his actions were wrong but did not amount to impeachable conduct.

 

Republican Senator Marco Rubio said impeachment would be too divisive for the country, even if a president engaged in clearly impeachable activity.

 

Lisa Murkowski, a Republican moderate who Democrats had hoped would vote with them to extend the trial, said the case against Trump was rushed and flawed.

 

"I don't believe the continuation of this process will change anything. It is sad for me to admit that, as an institution, the Congress has failed," she said in a prepared statement.

 

(Reporting by Richard Cowan, David Morgan, Karen Freifeld, Mark Hosenball, Susan Heavey, Susan Cornwell, Patricia Zengerle, Lisa Lambert and Mohammad Zargham; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-01

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The party of willful ignorance strikes again.

10 minutes ago, heybruce said:

The party of willful ignorance strikes again.

Yeah...those Democrats are really something...aren't they!   ☺

27 minutes ago, heybruce said:

The party of willful ignorance strikes again.

Cowards led by the Corrupter in Chief. MAGA - LOL - what a hypocrite!

How shocking!

Now is changing again. 

Lamar alexander who would have being the pivotal vote to call for witnesses said 

" there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the United States Constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense.  " 

"The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did "

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/01/lamar-alexander-impeachment-witnesses

So now it is changing again, Now it's we know he did it but it's not that bad,. 

    Disgusting!!! not only for them but for those who support thit kind of Sh#t. 

Imo we have just witnessed the lowest point in my country’s democracy in my lifetime to me the cowardice shown by the Republican Party in the face of the evidence just beggers belief to think I used to vote for them never again not as long as trump has one shred of influence but we kinda knew the fix was in before this started just rember come November 

6 minutes ago, Tug said:

Imo we have just witnessed the lowest point in my country’s democracy in my lifetime to me the cowardice shown by the Republican Party in the face of the evidence just beggers belief to think I used to vote for them never again not as long as trump has one shred of influence but we kinda knew the fix was in before this started just rember come November 

 

Not that big a deal to me, but it certainly made my day.

The good work of the framers of the US constitution has all been unraveled by the extreme bias and lack of ethics of modern politicians. They will put up with all and anything because 'its my team'. 

Thank you Senate Republicans!  Now we can put this nonsense to bed.  MAGA 2020!

9 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Now is changing again. 

Lamar alexander who would have being the pivotal vote to call for witnesses said 

" there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the United States Constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense.  " 

"The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did "

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/01/lamar-alexander-impeachment-witnesses

So now it is changing again, Now it's we know he did it but it's not that bad,. 

    Disgusting!!! not only for them but for those who support thit kind of Sh#t. 

Changing? 
 

Most everyone I know (not on the left) thought was all BS Freon the get. 
 

How many times did you change why you thought the Trump needed to be impeached for over the last three years? 
 

Yiu guys are hilarious. 

Imagine a country where 95% of the senate politicians from the party in charge don't want to hear the truth.

The don't want to listen to witnesses because they know those witnesses have evidence against the president. So now those politicians are able to somehow pretend that they were not aware of the truth.

But they know the truth. They know their party leader and president is guilty. And they also know that he is a serial liar. And and and ...

 

Imagine that would happen somewhere in Afrika or Asia or South America. Imagine how the politicians of the USA would point out how undemocratic and unprincipled those senators are. They would say those politicians only want to stay in power while ignoring the highest law. And they would be right.

 

But as we all know it happens in the USA which claims to be the greatest democracy in this world. They claim they have honest politicians which are not corrupt and follow the law. Can they look into a mirror and think about themselves as honest? Sure not.

 

It's sad to see how much the USA sunk since Trump is in charge. 62 million Americans voted for him. This year the American people have the chance to vote for somebody better. Will they? Or are not only the top US politicians unprincipled but the majority of the people in the country are the same? I fear the worst.

 

8 minutes ago, mogandave said:

Changing? 
 

Most everyone I know (not on the left) thought was all BS Freon the get. 
 

How many times did you change why you thought the Trump needed to be impeached for over the last three years? 
 

Yiu guys are hilarious. 

So you think a President pressuring a foreign government to pretend to investigate his opponent as to affect the outcome of our elections is Ok?

I wonder how you will feel if that president was a Democrat and  the victim was a republican?

trump and the republicans are not the real problem in this situation they are taking advantage of a situation. the problem is you guys, you are the enablers . You all should be ashamed of yourselves.  IMO you are all morally bankrupt 

The goal posts have been forever changed.

 

I can only hope that the American voter on mass will speak louder than this spineless, hypocritical bunch of senators come November.

Another fix was in and again failed.  The Senators are to be commended.  Trump 2020.

58 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

Yeah...those Democrats are really something...aren't they!   ☺

I'd say BOTH sides are really something. aren't they....all come across as a bunch of clowns!

God Bless! ????

11 minutes ago, sirineou said:

So you think a President pressuring a foreign government to pretend to investigate his opponent as to affect the outcome of our elections is Ok?

I wonder how you will feel if that president was a Democrat and  the victim was a republican?

trump and the republicans are not the real problem in this situation they are taking advantage of a situation. the problem is you guys, you are the enablers . You all should be ashamed of yourselves.  IMO you are all morally bankrupt 

If Trump “pressured  a foreign government” why did Selensky not make the announcement? 
 

Why did the House not compel the witnesses to testify? 
 

 

9 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Imagine a country where 95% of the senate politicians from the party in charge don't want to hear the truth.

The don't want to listen to witnesses because they know those witnesses have evidence against the president. So now those politicians are able to somehow pretend that they were not aware of the truth.

But they know the truth. They know their party leader and president is guilty. And they also know that he is a serial liar. And and and ...

 

Imagine that would happen somewhere in Afrika or Asia or South America. Imagine how the politicians of the USA would point out how undemocratic and unprincipled those senators are. They would say those politicians only want to stay in power while ignoring the highest law. And they would be right.

 

But as we all know it happens in the USA which claims to be the greatest democracy in this world. They claim they have honest politicians which are not corrupt and follow the law. Can they look into a mirror and think about themselves as honest? Sure not.

 

It's sad to see how much the USA sunk since Trump is in charge. 62 million Americans voted for him. This year the American people have the chance to vote for somebody better. Will they? Or are not only the top US politicians unprincipled but the majority of the people in the country are the same? I fear the worst.

 

How is the US worse off now (for anyone not on the left) than it was before Trump was elected?

 

 

1 hour ago, Puchaiyank said:

Yeah...those Democrats are really something...aren't they!   ☺

Nixon, Bush, Trump! Put your hand on your heart and say "I'm proud!"

A post containing trolling comments about Thailand's political situation has been removed.  Please stay on topic. 

13 minutes ago, mogandave said:

If Trump “pressured  a foreign government” why did Selensky not make the announcement? 
 

Why did the House not compel the witnesses to testify? 
 

 

What??

23 minutes ago, mogandave said:

How is the US worse off now (for anyone not on the left) than it was before Trump was elected?

If you have to ask I have no hope to explain it to you.

You could start by watching the news. And I mean news, not fox fairytales. 

33 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Imagine a country where 95% of the senate politicians from the party in charge don't want to hear the truth.

<snip>

 

Where's the testimony from the hidden 18th House witness, Michael Atkinson?  Why has Schiff refused to release it?  Why has no one on the left here requested to know what Atkinson's testimony was?  Are you folks really interested in the truth?

5 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

Where's the testimony from the hidden 18th House witness, Michael Atkinson?  Why has Schiff refused to release it?  Why has no one on the left here requested to know what Atkinson's testimony was?  Are you folks really interested in the truth?

Nonsense. They openly admit it that he did it. You are the only ones who still think he did not do it, Lamar Alexander did not say, : where are the 18 house witness" He knows where they are, he was there. He said "We know he did it" "we will not remove him we will let the American people decide"   , if that's so what do we need him for? Come next election not only we lill decide about trump , we will decide about him also.

29 minutes ago, sirineou said:

What??

 

If Trump “pressured  a foreign government” why did Selensky not make the announcement? 
 

Why did the House not compel the witnesses to testify? 

 

What do you not understand?

"Ask me no questions I tell you no truth" to mod old saying

When Trump is let off the hook, he will have free rein to do whatever he wants regarding coming election.

Feeling shamed or chastised just isn't part of Trump

C'mon in Russians.... hack our voting machines

and any other country that might seek favor with Trump... divide up the corpse of what used to be a very good country. Not great, not perfect, but pretty darn good

1 minute ago, mogandave said:

 

If Trump “pressured  a foreign government” why did Selensky not make the announcement? 
 

Why did the House not compel the witnesses to testify? 

 

What do you not understand?

I dont understand you.

Most republican senators openly admit they believe he did it. Why don't you and you ask nonsensical questions? 

This is what Lamar Alexander say: " LAMAR ALEXANDER: TRUMP OBVIOUSLY DID IT, SO NO NEED TO HEAR FROM WITNESSES BEFORE WE ACQUIT" 

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/01/lamar-alexander-impeachment-witnesses

59 minutes ago, neeray said:

The goal posts have been forever changed.

 

I can only hope that the American voter on mass will speak louder than this spineless, hypocritical bunch of senators come November.

 

nee way, forget it

 

Some inflammatory baiting posts and the replies have been removed. 

37 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

On July 25, 2019, the American president asked Volodymyr Zelensky, his Ukrainian counterpart, to resume the investigation of the corruption committed by an American national (point 1). The written transcript of the conversation

Not the job or responsibility of POTUS.

 

Would be the DOJ (Department of Justice) who would investigate Hunter and his dealings with Burisma.  Trump or the GOP senate has never requested this of the DOJ .   

 

And as everyone knows, the transcript of the phone call released last year is "redacted"