Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2021 20:46:51 GMT
The Senate is voting on the final verdict of former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial Saturday after Democrats backed away from a call for witnesses to testify that threw the trial into chaos for several hours earlier in the day.
The move to the trial's finishing stages was a final twist after the House managers' surprise request for witnesses had appeared to extend the trial indefinitely. The Senate voted 55 to 45 to consider witnesses -- with five Republican joining Democrats -- after the managers said they wanted to hear from Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Washington Republican who had told CNN new details about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's phone call with Trump. But after several hours of intense negotiations between Senate leaders, the managers and Trump's legal team, the managers agreed to enter Herrera Beutler's statement into the trial record as evidence and move forward without hearing from witnesses.
On Saturday morning, Democratic senators had expected House managers to move past witnesses onto closing arguments and a final vote. But the lead impeachment manager, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, announced when the trial got underway that the managers wanted to subpoena Herrera Beutler about her knowledge of McCarthy's phone call, following a CNN report Friday. Herrera Beutler, one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last month, confirmed in a statement Friday that McCarthy said the President told him on the call, "'Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.'"
The trial recessed after the witness vote and Senate leaders tried to hash out the next steps. Calling witnesses could have opened up the trial to a lengthy new phase, as Trump's team vowed to call hundreds of witnesses in response, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Republican senators demanded that each side receive an equal number of votes.
Closing the House managers argument, Raskin played to senators' sense of history in urging them to convict the former President for inciting the rioters to attack the Capitol on January 6 and failing to stop them after the violence had unfolded.
The move to the trial's finishing stages was a final twist after the House managers' surprise request for witnesses had appeared to extend the trial indefinitely. The Senate voted 55 to 45 to consider witnesses -- with five Republican joining Democrats -- after the managers said they wanted to hear from Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Washington Republican who had told CNN new details about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's phone call with Trump. But after several hours of intense negotiations between Senate leaders, the managers and Trump's legal team, the managers agreed to enter Herrera Beutler's statement into the trial record as evidence and move forward without hearing from witnesses.
On Saturday morning, Democratic senators had expected House managers to move past witnesses onto closing arguments and a final vote. But the lead impeachment manager, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, announced when the trial got underway that the managers wanted to subpoena Herrera Beutler about her knowledge of McCarthy's phone call, following a CNN report Friday. Herrera Beutler, one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last month, confirmed in a statement Friday that McCarthy said the President told him on the call, "'Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.'"
The trial recessed after the witness vote and Senate leaders tried to hash out the next steps. Calling witnesses could have opened up the trial to a lengthy new phase, as Trump's team vowed to call hundreds of witnesses in response, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Republican senators demanded that each side receive an equal number of votes.
Closing the House managers argument, Raskin played to senators' sense of history in urging them to convict the former President for inciting the rioters to attack the Capitol on January 6 and failing to stop them after the violence had unfolded.