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.
Here’s Sen. Alexander talking to ABC News:
That’s of course where posturing may be mistaken for supporting democracy. And we likely won’t know until it happens.