Senate Republicans push back on calls for more impeachment witnesses

Senate Republicans on Sunday defended President Donald Trump and panned calls for witnesses to testify in the Senate impeachment trial, ahead of the start of the second week.

In interviews on major networks, Republicans appeared unmoved by House Democrats’ opening arguments for Trump’s removal and reiterated that the Senate should not seek new evidence.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a strong Trump ally, warned on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo” that calling in witnesses would create only more havoc.

“What do we do?” Graham said. “Delay the trial so the president can go to court? Or do we as the Senate destroy the president’s ability to go to court — a bad spot to be in in the Senate ... If we seek witnesses, then we’re going to throw the country into chaos.”

House impeachment managers and Senate Democrats have made repeated calls for the chamber to subpoena witnesses, including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, as well as documents related to the administration’s hold on aid to Ukraine. The White House has repeatedly blocked witnesses from testifying. But most Senate Republicans argue that they should have to evaluate only the evidence the House used to draft articles of impeachment against Trump.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a House impeachment manager, acknowledged on CNN’s “State of the Union“ that Democrats did, to an extent, surrender to the White House’s stonewalling by not continuing the fight to force witness subpoenas in court.

“I guess, in that sense, we did, because, if we had waited for three or four years, the election would be over,” she said. “ The issue would be almost moot. If he is committing a high crime and misdemeanor now, and continuing to do it, we need to act.“

Trump was impeached in December for pressuring the Ukrainian government to investigate his political rivals and withholding aid to the country.

Monday will mark the second day for Trump’s lawyers to make their opening arguments. They are not expected to use the full 24 hours they’ve been given. After those arguments, senators will proceed to a 16-hour question-and-answer period before taking a contentious vote this week on whether to bring in additional witnesses.

Democrats will need at least four Senate Republicans to join them in order to achieve their demands. While GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are among the senators who could be open to calling witnesses, Democrats appear less optimistic that they will get the votes they need.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) declined on Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation” to “forecast” whether four Republicans would call for more witnesses, but made clear where he stood.

“I’m not going to vote to approve witnesses, because the House Democrats have had lots of witnesses, we heard from them over and over and over again this week,” Cotton said. “We don’t need to prolong what’s already taken five months of the American people’s time.”

One of the House impeachment managers, Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), also declined on Sunday to predict whether the Senate would have enough votes to bring in additional witnesses.

“I’m just not going to give up on the Senate and I’m not going to draw any conclusions, although I know there’s a lot of speculation about what they may do or may not do,” Demings said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” “I’m not going to draw any other conclusions.”

Senate Republican leadership is eyeing a swift vote to acquit Trump this week, should the witness vote fail. That would allow Trump to be acquitted before his State of the Union address on Feb. 4. It would also give time to the four Senate Democrats running for president to return to Iowa and make their final pitch before the state’s caucus on Feb. 3.

Amid their calls for witnesses and documents, Democrats have also highlighted an ABC News report that captured Trump in 2018 ordering the removal of Marie Yovanovitch as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Lev Parnas, a former associate of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, was at the dinner during which Trump made the remarks and has provided the recording to the House Intelligence Committee. Trump has denied knowing Parnas.

When asked about Trump’s denial on CNN, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) noted that “the president meets a lot of people.” Cotton, meanwhile, said on “Face the Nation” that the recording’s release hadn’t influenced the votes of any senators and reminded him of Democratic attempts to block Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. He added that Trump was told Yovanovitch predicted he would be impeached. Yovanovitch has denied ever making that statement.

“The president has the right to remove any ambassador for any reason or no reason whatsoever,” Cotton said. “An ambassador badmouthing the president is a pretty sound reason to remove an ambassador.“

This week’s witness vote comes after Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the lead House impeachment manager and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, read an anonymous quote during his closing statement that threatened Republicans would have their “head on a pike” if they broke with Trump. Though the statement will not make or break the case against Trump, it didn’t help win over senators like Collins or Murkowski who could be sympathetic to Democratic calls for witnesses. They, along with other Republican senators, have pushed back vehemently.

“I’m offended only because Adam Schiff believes that the only reason that we act the way that we do is because the president’s going to put our head on a pike,” Lankford said on CNN.

But Schiff stood by those remarks on Sunday, and further highlighted Trump’s tweet describing him hours earlier as a “corrupt politician” who “has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our country.”

“I made the argument that it’s going to require moral courage to stand up to this president,” Schiff said on NBC's “Meet the Press With Chuck Todd.” “This is a wrathful and vindictive president. I don’t think there’s any doubt about it, and if you think there is, look at the president’s tweets about me today.”