Battle lines harden over witnesses for Trump impeachment trial

Published Dec 23, 2019

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Washington - The White House on Sunday

signaled comfort with plans by Senate Republicans to avoid new

witnesses in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, while a

top Democrat seized on a newly released email on the withholding

of US aid to Ukraine to press his case for testimony.

The Democratic-led House of Representatives approved two

impeachment charges against Trump on Wednesday over his

pressuring of Ukraine to investigate a political rival. There is

little chance he will be convicted and removed from office

through a trial in a Senate controlled by fellow Republicans.

Democrats are pushing to call top Trump aides to testify,

but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants the Senate to

consider the case without hearing from new witnesses.

The Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, told reporters in

New York that an email made public on Saturday about military

assistance to Kiev underscored the need for witnesses.

The email, obtained by the Center for Public Integrity

through a court order in a Freedom of Information Act case,

showed senior White House budget official Michael Duffey

directing the Pentagon to withhold the aid just 91 minutes after

Trump concluded a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

In testimony to Congress last month, however, U.S.

Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland said he was

first informed on July 18 that the White House was withholding

security aid to Ukraine. "I was never able to obtain a clear

answer regarding the specific reason for the hold," he added.

The aid and the Trump-Zelinskiy call are at the heart of the

impeachment case put together by Democrats, and Duffey is one of

the four witnesses Schumer has proposed calling.

"If there was ever an argument that we need Mr. Duffey to

come and testify, this is that information," Schumer said.

While Trump had indicated an interest in calling separate

witnesses in his defense, he has also said he would go along

with whatever decision McConnell and other Senate Republican

leaders make.

In remarks on Sunday talk shows, Marc Short, chief of staff

to Vice President Mike Pence, indicated the White House was on

board with McConnell's goal of a speedy trial.

"The American people are tired of this sham," Short said on

NBC's "Meet the Press."

"To the extent that there's a prolonged trial, we're not

anxious about that," he said. "Our administration is anxious to

get back to working for the American people ... We've had a lot

of witnesses already."

Lawmakers left Washington for a holiday break on Friday at

loggerheads over how to proceed.

To ramp up pressure on McConnell to permit new testimony,

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - the top Democrat in Congress - has

postponed sending the impeachment charges to the Senate.

Republicans have suggested Democrats want witnesses because

the case they have assembled is so weak, while Democrats portray

Republicans as scared about what new testimony might reveal.

"If her case is so air tight ... why does she need more

witnesses?" Short said on "Fox News Sunday."

REPUBLICAN MODERATES

Trump is only the third U.S. president to be impeached. The

others were Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998.

Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 as he faced the threat of

impeachment.

The House charged Trump with abusing his power by holding

back $391 million in security aid to Ukraine in an effort to get

Kiev to announce a corruption investigation of former Vice

President Joe Biden, a leading candidate for the Democratic

nomination to face Trump in the November 2020 election.

Trump was also charged with obstructing Congress by

directing administration officials and agencies not to cooperate

with the impeachment inquiry. He says he did nothing wrong and

has dismissed his impeachment as a partisan bid to undo his 2016

election win.

"The American people and the United States Senate deserve to

have a full, fair and complete trial and that means witnesses,

it means documents," Democratic Senator Doug Jones told ABC's

"This Week."

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and

Democrats are hoping a few moderate Republicans will support

their bid for further testimony and force McConnell's hand.

"The leverage is our hope that four Republican senators will

stand up ... and say this is much bigger than our current

political squabbles," Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the

Senate, told CNN's "State of the Union."

"If four Republican senators step up, it can make a big

difference," he said.

Reuters

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Donald Trump