An influential Republican senator has spoken with several of his GOP colleagues in recent days about making a deal with Senate Democrats to call just two witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial.
Sen. Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania told his colleagues that a “one-for-one” deal with Senate Democrats might be necessary, especially as pressure builds for witness testimony, according to the Washington Post.
Toomey has discussed the proposal with Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah as well as others. Two Senate Republican aides said Romney was generally supportive of the proposal but had not yet backed any specific plan.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has thus far not been open to the potential deal, telling Senate Republicans to hold off on any witness deal until after Trump’s defense team is done making its case.
Romney and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said earlier Monday that they expected other Republicans to support a call for witnesses after new revelations from former national security adviser John Bolton.
Bolton alleged in his forthcoming book that Trump made aid to Ukraine conditional on the country announcing an investigation into his political rival Joe Biden, which undermines the Trump defense team’s claim that the freeze of security assistance was separate from the president pressuring Kyiv to announce investigations into Biden.
Earlier this month, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas proposed trading testimony from Bolton for testimony from Biden’s son, Hunter, who was on the board of a Ukrainian gas company when his father was vice president. Most Democrats have dismissed Cruz’s proposal.
Last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Democrats would not consider such a deal. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California additionally said it would be an “an illegitimate abuse of the trial” if Hunter Biden were called to testify.
