McConnell Tells GOP He’ll Vote to Acquit: Impeachment Update
McConnell #McConnell
(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial resumed Saturday morning. Expectations that the trial would conclude later in the day were thrown into doubt by a debate over whether to call witnesses to testify.
The nine House impeachment managers presenting the charge against the former president argue that he betrayed his oath of office by inciting his followers to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6. Trump’s lawyers counter that he didn’t encourage violence and simply exercised his First Amendment rights.
Key Developments: Senate Approves House Request to Consider Witnesses (10:30 a.m.)
The Senate approved 55-45 a request to consider calling witnesses, a move that may extend the trial that was expected to end within hours.
House managers said Republican Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler had important information about a phone call during the mob attack at the Capitol between House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and Trump. Trump’s attorney, Michael van der Veen, said he’d need to call hundreds of witnesses if any were to be allowed.
Amid confusion over what the vote meant, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said it opened a debate on whether to actually call witnesses and how many. “I don’t think there’s any limit right now, and that’s part of what will be debated.”
Although it would take a two-thirds vote to convict Trump, it would take just a simple majority to allow subpoenas of particular witnesses and agree to the process for calling them.
After the vote, members huddled in small groups on the Senate floor discussing strategy on the issue.– Daniel Flatley and Steven Dennis
House Managers Ask to Subpoena Lawmaker (10:19 a.m.)
Representative Jamie Raskin, the lead House impeachment manager, asked that a Republican congresswoman be asked to testify on a conversation she said House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy told her he had with Trump during the mob insurrection.
Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington State, who voted to impeach Trump, issued a statement Friday recounting the conversation.
She said McCarthy told her he asked Trump to call off his supporters. According to Herrera Beutler’s account, Trump first claimed that the rioters were members of the leftist movement Antifa. When McCarthy responded that they were indeed his supporters, Trump told him, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Herrera Beutler said in the statement.
Raskin asked for Beutler’s notes and a Zoom call of less than an hour.
But Trump’s attorney Michael van der Veen answered that if witnesses are to be called, “I’m going to need more than 100 witnesses, not just one.” He said “we should close this case out today.” But if not, “Do not handcuff me by limiting the number of witnesses I can have.”
The Senate began a roll call on the issue.– Laura Litvan and Steven Dennis
McConnell Tells GOP He’ll Vote to Acquit (9:45 a.m.)
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who has kept silent on his intentions until now, has sent GOP senators a message that he will vote to acquit Trump, three people familiar with his announcement said.
McConnell previously has previously declined to disclose his intentions, while describing the impeachment vote as a matter of conscience for each senator.
“While a close call, I am persuaded that impeachments are a tool primarily of removal and we therefore lack jurisdiction,” the Kentucky senator said in the message reported earlier by Politico. But he added that “the Constitution makes perfectly clear that Presidential misconduct while in office can be prosecuted after the President has left office.”
He said that resolves concern about the “otherwise troubling ‘January exception”’ for wrongdoing cited by the House. — Josh Wingrove, Billy House and Steven Dennis
Trump’s Silence in Riot Fuels New Dispute (8 a.m.)
A Republican congresswoman has prompted renewed focus on Trump’s silence while a mob of his supporters rampaged through the U.S. Capitol.
Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington State, who voted to impeach Trump, issued a statement Friday recounting a telephone conversation that she said House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy told her he had with Trump during the Jan. 6 assault.
She said McCarthy told her he asked Trump to call off his supporters. According to Herrera Beutler’s account, Trump first claimed that the rioters were members of the leftist movement Antifa. When McCarthy responded that they were indeed his supporters, Trump told him, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Herrera Beutler said in the statement.
Trump eventually posted a video saying it was time for the rioters to leave the Capitol and that “we have to have law and order” but adding, “We love you, you’re very special.”
The impeachment trial was expected to move toward a vote Saturday with neither side calling witnesses, but Herrera Beutler urged those who knew of Trump’s inaction to come forward.
“To the patriots who were standing next to the former president as these conversations were happening, or even to the former vice president, if you have something to add here, now would be the time,” she said in the statement.
Trump’s conversation with McCarthy, which was the subject of a CNN report earlier Friday, couldn’t be independently confirmed. Hours after the riot, McCarthy voted with other Republicans to reject Electoral College votes from two states that Joe Biden won. And on Jan. 28, he visited Trump at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to discuss the 2022 elections.
But before Trump’s impeachment, McCarthy said, “the president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters.” His office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday night.
— John Harney and Billy House
Where to Watch:
You can catch the proceedings live on the Bloomberg Terminal or streaming on the web at bloomberg.com. Cable news networks CNN, Fox News and MSNBC are likely to show significant portions of the trial. C-SPAN 2, which covers Senate floor proceedings, will broadcast it on cable and online.
(Updates with members in discussion on the Senate floor in first item)
For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.