Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who announced Sunday he wants to summon four witnesses to testify at a Senate trial if the House impeaches President Trump, voted against calling witnesses when President Bill Clinton was impeached in 1999.
Schumer, a New York Democrat, was a new senator in January 1999 when he cast one of his first votes in the chamber to dismiss the case against Clinton and against a motion to subpoena witnesses.
“I wonder if the House managers aren’t a little more interested in political theater than in actually getting to the bottom of the facts,” Schumer said on CBS at the time, explaining his objection to calling witnesses in the trial against Clinton.
Schumer argued the witnesses would provide nothing new in the case. “My view is we have heard from most of these witnesses over and over again. We’ve heard the same story.”
The Republican-led House impeached Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, sending the matter to the Senate for six-week trial that acquitted the president.
The Democrat-led House is expected to impeach Trump on Wednesday for obstruction of Congress and abuse of power.
Schumer is now calling for Republicans to summon witnesses in the case again Trump, despite opposing them two decades ago in the Clinton trial.
Schumer sent a letter Sunday to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, calling on the Senate to subpoena testimony from senior adviser to the acting White House chief of staff Robert Blair, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, former national security adviser John Bolton, and associate director for national security for the Office of Management and Budget Michael Duffey.
The four officials defied subpoenas to appear at a House impeachment proceedings.
Schumer is also calling for the Senate to approve subpoenas for documents related to the charges against Trump.
“We believe this proposal will allow for a trial in which all of the facts can be considered fully and fairly, and in which final votes can be taken within a reasonable period of time, without any unnecessary delay,” Schumer said Sunday. “Conducting the trial according to this plan will also allow the public to have confidence in the process and will demonstrate that the Senate can put aside partisan concerns and fulfill its constitutional duty.”
Democrats this week plan to impeach Trump over allegations he withheld security aid from Ukraine in order to coerce the government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and allegations that Democrats worked with Ukraine officials to undermine Trump’s 2016 campaign.
The Senate trial is expected to begin in January. McConnell and Schumer plan to negotiate terms for conducting the trial. McConnell has not yet responded to Schumer’s request to subpoena witnesses and documents.
