Well, here on the west coast, we woke up to the surprise news that the House Managers prosecuting the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump were going to call witnesses.
Five Senate Republicans voted with Democrats to hear witnesses at Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial: Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
BREAKING: Rep. Jamie Raskin calls for subpoenaing Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler who tweeted a statement last night about talk she had with House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy regarding former Pres. Trump’s possible involvement in the Capitol siege. https://t.co/OThXf9lYk8 pic.twitter.com/txevNFdj1j
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 13, 2021
And, suddenly, it appears they’re now folded and the two legal teams are moving to closing arguments with a possible vote by the entire Senate today.
From ABC News:
After an 11-hour scramble, the Senate has determined it will be calling no witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial.
The written testimony of Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., — one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump — was admitted into evidence, instead of moving further with the process for hearing from witnesses.
Neither the Trump legal team nor the House impeachment managers made any further motions. The parties mutually came to the agreement to admit Herrera Beutler’s statement and not request further witnesses.
Closing arguments are underway, for which each side is allotted two hours.
There won’t be witnesses.
Democratic impeachment managers surrender their earlier demand after, remarkably, winning a procedural vote on it 55-45.
Now underway: Each side has up to two hours to make their closing arguments.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) February 13, 2021
And just like that, the witness controversy is concluded. Closing arguments will play out for up to four hours — or less, if they don’t use all of their allotted time.
— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) February 13, 2021
Closing arguments now for up to four hours. Acquittal vote afterwards
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 13, 2021
LATEST: Saturday morning Trump Impeachment trial updates:
• Raskin seeks to subpoena Republican Rep. Herrera Beutler to testify about Trump-McCarthy call
• Senators agree to hold votes on witnesses
• McConnell tells Republican colleagues that he will vote to acquit Trump
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 13, 2021
The whole *point* of this thing was to make Republicans own every last bit of treasonous behavior they were voting to acquit. How are the Democrats this fucking bad at political analysis?
— Chris Kluwe, Irredeemable Pudgy Nobody (@ChrisWarcraft) February 13, 2021
