Impeachment Trial: GOP Likely to Block Witnesses as Murkowski Plans to Vote 'No'

President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial enters what may be its last day as senators will vote on Democrats’ bid to call witnesses. If that fails, the Senate could move toward a final vote Friday or Saturday on the two articles charging the president with abuse of power and obstructing the House investigation.

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said she’ll vote against additional witnesses, almost certainly ending House prosecutors’ effort to introduce new evidence in Trump’s Senate trial and paving the way for an acquittal.

Murkowski was the last Republican considered a potential vote in favor of hearing from witnesses like former National Security Advisor John Bolton. With Murkowski’s announcement, the vote is expected to fall short of a majority, even if backed by all 47 Democrats and independents, as well as both Republicans who announced support, Mitt Romney and Susan Collins.

The decision late Thursday by Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a Republican who had been considered a potential supporter of testimony, to vote against new evidence largely dashed Democrats hopes of prevailing.

His announcement is a victory for Trump’s legal team and, especially, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had been steering the trial to a quick conclusion after two weeks of debate and questioning.

“We took another big step towards the president’s acquittal in the Senate today, and look forward to completing this impeachment process as soon as possible,” chief White House congressional liaison Eric Ueland said late Thursday.

The Senate starts Friday with House prosecutors and Trump’s defense each delivering two hours of closing arguments. Then senators vote on calling witnesses. If the Senate rejects that option, the chamber would move toward a vote on final judgment on the two impeachment articles against Trump. There’s little chance that two-thirds of the Republican-controlled chamber would vote to convict and oust the president.

“If my Republican colleagues refuse to even consider witnesses and documents in this trial, this country is headed to the greatest cover-up since Watergate,” Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Friday.

The final vote would clear Trump in time for his delivery of the State of the Union address, which he’ll deliver next Tuesday from the same House chamber where Democrats adopted the impeachment articles six weeks ago. It also gives him a chance to claim vindication and a rallying point for supporters just as the 2020 election campaign fully gets underway with the Iowa caucuses on Monday.

Democrats would need four Republican votes to get a majority to call witnesses in the trial. But only Utah’s Mitt Romney and Maine’s Susan Collins have backed hearing from witnesses, including former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton.

The remaining potential GOP vote for witnesses is Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, who has previously indicated openness to calling witnesses. But since a meeting with McConnell Wednesday morning, she’s repeatedly refused to discuss the issue.

At best, that leaves the question of calling witnesses at a 50-50 tie. Chief Justice John Roberts could decide whether he should step in as a tie-breaker. Both McConnell and Schumer have expressed doubt that he would. If Roberts declines to act, the witness vote would fail.

Senator Jeff Merkley said early Friday he doesn’t think Roberts would step in to break a tie vote in the Senate.

“I do not see that in this chief justice,” the Oregon Democrat told CNN in an interview.

Senator Dick Durbin, the Democrat in charge of counting his party’s votes, also said he doesn’t expect Roberts to rule on a draw. He said his party is resigned to the trial ending quickly with no new witnesses.

“We are resigned to this happening,” Durbin said. “It’s clear after all the days we spent on this, Republicans are afraid of a trial and afraid of the truth.”

Alexander said in a statement released late Thursday night that the prosecutors already had enough evidence to prove key factual allegations in the impeachment articles, but the judgment of Trump’s conduct should be left to voters.

“There is no need for more evidence to prove that the president asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter,” Alexander, who is retiring when his term ends next January, said. “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.”

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