GOP Senators Leaning Toward Quick Impeachment Trial for Trump

(Bloomberg) -- Senate Republicans say there is an early consensus building within their ranks for a short impeachment trial that could see the GOP-led chamber vote on a likely acquittal of President Donald Trump without hearing from any witnesses.

Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, said a growing number of the Senate’s 53 GOP members want to simply let House Democrats make their case to impeach the president and then hear a rebuttal from Trump’s team before moving immediately to a vote on the articles of impeachment.

“I think people are starting to realize that could be a pretty messy and unproductive process,” said Johnson, who just days ago said he thought witnesses should be brought into the proceedings. Johnson said “that’s generally where people are heading toward.”

The House is poised to vote next week on adopting two articles of impeachment -- abuse of power and obstructing Congress -- triggering a trial in the Senate that would begin some time in early to mid-January. The White House has indicated that the president would like a number of witnesses to be called, including the whistle-blower who helped spark the impeachment inquiry into allegations Trump improperly pressed Ukraine‘s president to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son.

The White House would like to have “a lot of witnesses,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Tuesday on Fox News.

But Senator John Cornyn of Texas said his advice to the White House would be, “if you have the votes, let’s vote.”

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally, has also been cautioning against having a lot of witnesses.

“I am not in that camp,” he said. “Whatever they use to pass the articles should be the trial record. That way we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.”

McConnell’s View

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn’t tipped his hand on how quickly he wants to move with the impeachment trial. On Tuesday, though, he said a Senate majority could end the trial after hearing arguments from both sides and without testimony from witnesses if “they’ve heard enough and believe they know what would happen,” he said.

Although a two-thirds majority would be needed to convict the president, just 51 votes are needed to decide on witnesses or to move directly to a vote on the charges. It’s not yet clear McConnell would have 51 votes to block witnesses who may be called by House impeachment managers, or if 51 Republicans would back Trump’s call to bring in the Bidens and the whistle-blower.

If just four Senate Republicans decide they want to hear from witnesses, such as acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani or Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, they could join with every Senate Democrat to call them to testify.

One incentive for wrapping the trial up quickly is that while the Senate is occupied with impeachment, other matters will fall by the wayside, including approval of a trade deal that Trump wants finished.

Senator Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican, said the situation remains “fluid” and senators won’t decide whether witnesses should be called until both sides initially present their cases. She said she’s still trying to keep an open mind but what she sees as a partisan impeachment process in House didn’t help, she said. Capito added she hasn’t seen anything yet that merits impeachment and removal from office -- something no Republican in either chamber has yet endorsed.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday urged Senate Republicans, who hold a 53-47 advantage in the chamber, to keep their minds open.

“The gravity of these charges and our sworn duty to uphold and defend the Constitution demand that all senators put country over party and examine the evidence uncovered by the House without prejudice, without partisanship,” Schumer told reporters after a meeting of all Senate Democrats.

House Hearing

The House Judiciary Committee is set to begin late Wednesday considering a resolution that contains the two articles of impeachment, the first step toward moving it to the floor of the House, where Democrats have a majority.

GOP Senator Roy Blunt said he thinks it will be clear after each side has a few weeks to present their case whether the Senate wants to hear anything else. He said a consideration should be whether any further evidence might affect the outcome of the trial as opposed to just prolonging it to score political points.

“At that point I don’t think it’ll just be Republicans,” Blunt, of Missouri, said. “I think Democrats actually have more reasons to try to get this out of the way.”

Five Senate Democrats are running for their party’s presidential nomination and the first nominating contest is Feb. 3.

Senator Bill Cassidy said House Democrats narrowing their impeachment case to just two articles and not including a specific charge of bribery suggests it makes sense to narrow the focus of the trial as well, perhaps just to witnesses who already testified in the House.

The Louisiana Republican said he’s focused on what the charges are and doesn’t yet see how calling the Bidens makes sense.

Hunter Biden’s making money from a Ukraine gas company “doesn’t pass the smell test, but I’m not sure it pertains to obstruction of Congress,” he said.

Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, a Republican who will face voters in 2020, said many of her Hawkeye State constituents see a trial as “a waste of time” and she doesn’t see anything Trump did that was impeachable.

“I think all of us would like to see the impeachment trial wrapped up,” she said.

--With assistance from Jordan Fabian.

To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net;Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo

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