Senators voted on Saturday morning to call witnesses in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial after fresh questions were raised about the former president’s actions on January 6, when mobs of his supporters staged a violent siege on the US Capitol.
Jamie Raskin, the Democratic congressman from Maryland who is acting as de facto chief prosecutor, said on Saturday morning that he wanted to subpoena Republican congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler after she confirmed news reports that Trump rejected calls for him to intervene in the deadly riot that left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer.
That teed up a vote on whether to call witnesses and subpoena information in the trial, with 55 senators voting in favour of the motion. Five Republicans — Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse and Lindsey Graham — joined all of the Democrats in backing the call for witnesses.
The vote injects a fresh twist in an impeachment trial that was widely expected to wrap up this weekend without witness testimony. A final vote on whether to convict Trump was expected as early as Saturday afternoon, and Republican lawmakers had already begun indicating which way they planned to vote.
US media reported Saturday that Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, said in an email to colleagues that he would vote to acquit Trump. McConnell had previously been open to convicting the former president, and his position could influence other wavering Republicans.
McConnell’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Support for calling witnesses came late Friday after a CNN report alleged Trump refused to intervene to stop the riot in a heated exchange with Kevin McCarthy, the top House Republican, as rioters stormed the Capitol.
“Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump told McCarthy, according to the report.
McCarthy allegedly replied: “Who the fuck do you think you are talking to?”
Herrera Beutler issued a statement late Friday confirming the report, saying McCarthy had told her details of the call.
Trump was impeached last month by the House of Representatives in a bipartisan vote. Herrera Beutler was one of 10 House Republicans who joined Democrats in that vote.
Raskin said: “Needless to say, this is an additional critical piece of corroborating evidence, further confirming the charges before you, as well as the president’s willful dereliction of duty, and desertion of duty as the commander-in-chief of the United States, his state of mind and his further incitement of the insurrection on January 6.”
The impeachment managers asked Trump himself to testify before the trial kicked off in earnest — a request the president’s legal team swiftly rejected.
Trump is widely seen as unlikely to be convicted or barred from holding future office.
Under the constitution, two-thirds of the US Senate would need to find Trump guilty in order for him to be convicted — something that would require the support of 17 Republican lawmakers given the upper chamber of Congress is currently split, 50-50, between Republicans and Democrats. Trump could then be banned from holding future office with a simple majority vote.