Jan. 31 (Gephardt Daily/UPI) — Utah Sen. Mike Lee (R) tweeted the reason for his nay vote Friday after the Senate voted 51-49 against a motion to subpoena witnesses and documents in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
” … the Senate — sitting here as a court of impeachment — has both the authority and the obligation to decline to hold a full trial where the material facts are not in dispute,” he said, in part, in a four-part message.
Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Mitt Romney voted with Democrats in favor of the measure.
Senators took a break immediately after the vote during which Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York described the outcome of the vote a “grand tragedy.”
“America will remember this day, unfortunately, when the Senate did not live up to its responsibilities, when the Senate turned away from truth and went along with a sham trial,” he told reporters.
The outcome of the vote was a foregone conclusion after Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, announced she would vote against witnesses. She, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Collins and Romney were seen as swing votes heading into Friday.
The Senate closed the questioning stage of the trial on Thursday and on Friday entered a phase to consider all motions.
This is the stage at which Democrats hoped to persuade at least four GOP senators to join them and vote to include key witnesses, such as former national security adviser John Bolton and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
“The House chose to send articles of impeachment that are rushed and flawed,” Murkowski said in a statement. “I carefully considered the need for additional witnesses and documents, to cure the shortcomings of its process, but ultimately decided that I will vote against considering motions to subpoena.”
Republicans are now expected to raise a motion to acquit Trump on both articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, related to his dealings with Ukraine last year and the House inquiry that followed.
After Friday’s witness vote, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said senators were determining how to proceed with the rest of the trial.
“Senators will now confer among ourselves, with the House managers, and with the president’s counsel to determine next steps as we prepare to conclude the trial in the coming days,” he said.
Democrats could try to prolong the trial with amendments to force Republican senators into difficult political votes.
See Lee’s tweets below:
