Sen. Joe Manchin indicated he could support calling Hunter Biden as a witness in President Trump’s impeachment trial, breaking with his Democratic colleagues.
The West Virginia senator was asked Wednesday whether 2020 candidate Joe Biden’s son is a “relevant witness” ahead of a vote later this week on calling witnesses to testify.
“I think so. I really do. I don’t have a problem there because this is why we are where we are. Now, I think that he can clear himself — what I know, what I’ve heard. But being afraid to put anybody that might have pertinent information is wrong, no matter if you’re a Democrat or Republican,” Manchin told MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
Trump’s impeachment team has painted the former vice president and his son as corrupt actors who should be investigated. Hunter Biden sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company while his father was vice president.
At the center of Democrats’ impeachment case is that Trump abused the power of his office by trying to condition military aid to Ukraine on the country launching an investigation into the Bidens. Most Democrats have dismissed Republican calls to bring in Hunter Biden as a witness.
Last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Democrats would not consider making a deal with Republicans to call their requested witnesses in exchange for Biden’s testimony. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California said it would be an “an illegitimate abuse of the trial” if Biden were called to testify.
