A key Republican senator announced he will not vote in favor of calling additional witnesses to testify in President Trump’s impeachment trial, making it more likely the trial could be over by this weekend.
Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee released a statement at the end of the day’s proceedings Thursday saying that he does not support extending the trial in order to subpoena new witnesses and additional documents related to articles of impeachment against Trump.
Alexander’s decision makes it more certain there will not be enough votes to call new witnesses.
Democrats are eager to extend the trial and summon former national security adviser John Bolton, who they believe will testify that Trump told him he wanted to withhold security aid to Ukraine until the government investigated Democrats and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Most Republicans, however, want the trial to end tomorrow. A handful have been on the fence or likely to vote for witnesses.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine announced late Thursday she would vote for witnesses.
Republicans are poised to have 50 votes against witnesses, which would produce a tie, and the motion to call witnesses would fail.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah have expressed interest in calling additional witnesses. Alexander is among the most closely watched Republicans ahead of the vote Friday on whether to call them.
His support of witnesses would have provided a fourth GOP vote — and a majority for Democrats.
Without it, the vote is likely to tie, and few expect Chief Justice John Roberts to intercede and break the tie.
Prior to his announcement, he asked a question jointly with Murkowski of Trump’s defense attorneys: Even if the Senate called Bolton as a witness and he provided the information Democrats claim he would, wouldn’t the president’s actions still fall short of an impeachable offense?
At that moment, it seemed clear Alexander would announce his opposition to calling witnesses.
