There Are Now Enough Senators to Force a Vote on Whether or Not to Call Witnesses in Trump’s Impeachment Trial: Report

The House of Representatives tried to get several Trump administration officials to testify during the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, but the White House blocked them from appearing. In response, Speaker Nancy Pelosi held the Articles of Impeachment from the Senate in an attempt to bring the issue to light, and hopefully convince Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to agree to have these top officials testify.

McConnell refused, but according to Bloomberg News’ Laura Litvan, there are now enough Republican Senators joining with Democrats to force a vote on whether or not to call witnesses and allow additional documents.

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who is retiring at the end of his term, joins GOP Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney – plus 45 Democrats and 2 Independents – to reach, Litvan says, the “magic number” of 51 Senators who want “a guaranteed vote on whether to call witnesses or more documents later in the Trump impeachment trial.”

That’s bad news for Trump, but good news for democracy – assuming they vote to call witnesses.

But even Sen. Alexander says he doesn’t know which way he will vote – to call witnesses or not.

Alexander said he DOESN’T know how he will vote.

“We should hear the case and not dismiss it. We should hear the arguments and ask our questions. And then we should vote on whether we need additional evidence. And I think that’s a fair and impartial way to go about it.”

— Laura Litvan (@LauraLitvan) January 14, 2020

Here’s Sen. Alexander talking to ABC News:

GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander says he would “vote against a motion to dismiss” articles of impeachment against Pres. Trump.

“We have a responsibility to hear the case—a Constitutional responsibility—and a motion to dismiss is not consistent with that.” https://t.co/X5VtNC3NMy pic.twitter.com/ekg2EmabUL

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 14, 2020

That’s of course where posturing may be mistaken for supporting democracy. And we likely won’t know until it happens.