The U.S. Capitol is seen at
sunset in Washington, Jan. 24, 2019. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,
R-Ky., appears to have the votes to end the trial against President Trump.
(Associated Press)
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.,
announced late Thursday night that he would not support additional witnesses in
President Trump's "shallow, hurried and wholly partisan" Senate impeachment trial, seemingly ending Democrats' hopes
of hearing testimony from former national security adviser John
Bolton and paving the way for the president's imminent acquittal as soon
as Friday night.
"If this shallow, hurried
and wholly partisan impeachment were to succeed, it would rip the country
apart, pouring gasoline on the fire of cultural divisions that already
exist," Alexander said. "It would create the weapon of perpetual
impeachment to be used against future presidents whenever the House of
Representatives is of a different political party."
He added: “The framers
believed that there should never, ever be a partisan impeachment. That is why
the Constitution requires a 2/3 vote of the Senate for conviction. Yet not one
House Republican voted for these articles."
On Tuesday, Trump is set to
address Congress for the annual State of the Union address, which is
increasingly likely to resemble a victory lap following months of quixotic
Democratic calls for the president's removal from office.
Should the witness vote fail as
expected on Friday evening, the Senate would likely then vote on either
additional motions for debate, or even the articles of impeachment themselves.
An extraordinarily unlikely two-thirds supermajority vote is needed to convict
and remove Trump; otherwise he will be acquitted.
