Senators question House managers, Trump lawyers

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial continued Wednesday, with lawmakers questioning his lawyers and House managers about the case while party leaders worked behind the scenes to secure votes on the question of calling witnesses.

Republican leaders were hopeful they could block a vote on witnesses this week and move to acquit the president on charges of abuse of office and obstruction of Congress.

But allegations contained in a book manuscript by former national security adviser John Bolton threatened to derail GOP leaders’ plans and undercut the president’s defense that release of withheld military aid to Ukraine was not conditioned on an investigation into political rival former Vice President Joe Biden.

Bolton wrote in the draft, leaked to The New York Times, that the aid was directly tied to Ukraine fulfilling Trump’s request to announce an investigation that could help boost his re-election bid.

Trump has denied the allegation, saying Bolton was simply trying to sell books. And one of the president’s lawyers, former Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz told the Senate that, even if true, the allegations do not rise to the level of an impeachable crime.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked the House impeachment managers about the significance of the Bolton manuscript and the importance of his testimony to the trial.

“There is no way to have a fair trial without witnesses,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the lead House trial manager.

Schiff said that “to turn him away, to look the other way, I think is deeply at odds with being an impartial juror.”

The president’s lawyers argued that Trump was cut out of the impeachment process in the House.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., asked if the president was treated differently than others who have gone through the process.

“The president is not the victim here. The victim is the American people,” said Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., a House impeachment manager. “President Trump refused to participate.”

When Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., asked how the president’s actions differed from that of past presidents when withholding foreign aid, Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a House manager, said there was no legitimate policy reason.

“The president abused his authority,” Crow said.

An expected vote this week on whether to call Bolton or other witnesses to testify hinges on a small number of Republican lawmakers needed to reach a simple majority. Senate Republican leaders and the White House were clearly hoping to block witnesses and move to end the trial with an acquittal.

But Republican moderates Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah said they were open to testimony from Bolton about the apparent discrepancies between his book and the president’s account of the Ukraine aid.

“I’d like to hear from John Bolton because I think there are questions that I have that he could answer,” Romney told reporters.

Romney, a former GOP presidential nominee, said he has known Bolton for a long time. “He’s a brilliant individual,” Romney said.

A Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, said he was prepared to vote on acquittal. But Manchin walked back his comments later Wednesday and fell in line with Democrats seeking witnesses.

A simple majority of 51 senators would be needed to approve additional witnesses. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority. But a two-thirds majority — or 67 votes — is necessary to remove the president. That would require all Democrats in the chamber to be joined by 20 Republicans, an unlikely scenario.

In a question posed by the undecided GOP lawmakers, deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin told the Senate that if the president withheld the aid for any other reason — national security or to weigh corruption concerns — in addition to a political motive, the House managers’ case was moot and the Senate should acquit Trump.

The president’s lawyers also argued that the aid eventually was released, and no investigation into Biden was called, so no wrongdoing occurred.

The Government Accountability Office, however, has opined that withholding congressionally approved aid was illegal.

Philbin said the House did not seek to subpoena Bolton to testify because they were pressed to finish the inquiry to vote on impeachment articles before the holidays. “They had to get it done by Christmas, and they did,” Philbin said. “It’s all a political charade.”

Bolton has agreed to testify under subpoena in the Senate, which is a turnabout from last year when he and his lawyer told House investigators he would not speak to impeachment investigators.

House impeachment manager Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., told the Senate that it was imperative that Bolton and other witnesses, previously blocked by the Trump administration, testify at the trial because “the president is unrepentant, and we fear he will do it again.”

Lofgren said immediate action was needed to prevent the president in his pursuit to corrupt “the upcoming election.”

As senators posed questions, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Capitol with placards that urged lawmakers to “REMOVE TRUMP.”

Inside the Capitol, Republican allies of Trump in the Senate threatened to subpoena Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who worked for a Ukrainian gas company while his father was vice president, to testify if Democrats are successful in a vote to continue with more witnesses.

Schumer called “absurd” a deal to subpoena Bolton and Hunter Biden, a one-for-one agreement to appease Democrats and Republicans. Democrats argued that despite Hunter Biden’s high-paying job with Ukrainian gas company Burisma, his testimony wouldn’t address the allegation that the president solicited a foreign government for a political favor.

Conservative Republicans said that if Bolton and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney were called, not only the Bidens but the undisclosed whistleblower whose complaint spurred the impeachment would be sought for questioning in the Senate.

A successful vote to subpoena Bolton and other witnesses identified by Democrats probably would extend the trial past Trump’s scheduled State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress next Tuesday. If the Senate votes to block additional witnesses, the trial could conclude by the end of the week, allowing Trump a victory lap when he speaks to Congress and the nation in the prime-time television address.

The Senate impeachment trial of Trump is only the third in U.S. history. The Senate voted to acquit President Andrew Johnson in 1868 and President Bill Clinton in 1999.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.