The Senate has voted to move forward with the impeachment trial of President Trump without hearing from additional witnesses. Next, the Republican-controlled chamber will move to acquit, leaving many unanswered questions in its wake.
Many conservatives, my colleagues included, argued the Senate should have invited former national security adviser John Bolton to testify. The choice seemed obvious: Bolton was willing to appear before the Senate, and reports about his unreleased memoir suggested he could provide valuable information that we do not already have. The majority of the public agreed that Bolton’s testimony would be worthwhile, and, in any event, whatever information Bolton has is likely to come out.
The Republican Party disagreed.
The GOP’s argument against witness testimony also made sense — I agreed with it, in part. It was the House Democrats’ responsibility to provide a complete case against the president. Instead of rushing through the process, they should have gone to the courts to secure Bolton’s testimony, and that is exactly what they would have done had the 2020 election not been the sole motivator in this impeachment saga.
If Democrats can’t convict Trump with the same evidence they used to impeach him, then whose fault is that? Caving to the Democrats’ demands for additional witnesses would have inadvertently rewarded their shenanigans.
But now that Bolton’s testimony is completely off the table, there is a sense of prematurity. Republicans have argued that calling additional witnesses would be pointless since the ultimate result would still be an acquittal. So, why not entertain public opinion and hear what Bolton had to say? Even better: Why not use Bolton as an opportunity to subpoena Hunter Biden and build the case that Trump had a legitimate reason to investigate corruption in Ukraine?
The Democrats’ case against the president was admittedly weak, but so was the Republicans’ defense, and the blocking of additional witnesses just made it even weaker. If Trump’s dealings with Ukraine were as “perfect” as he says, why not lay out all the facts? The Senate would still have voted to acquit, but the public would have at least been better informed heading into the 2020 election.
The Democratic accusation that Republicans are staging a “cover-up” is absurd, but it is true that this case lacks closure. There were legitimate questions raised about Trump’s motivations, and now it’s unclear whether we’ll ever know what really went down with Trump and Ukraine in the summer of 2019.
Then again, Bolton’s book release is just around the corner.
