New witness burdens Trump: chaos in the impeachment vote

Saturday February 13th 2021

New witness incriminates Trump
Impeachment vote chaos

The impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump get chaotic: The House of Representatives surprisingly enforces the hearing of a witness. The meeting is suspended. Neither the Senate nor experts now know exactly how to proceed.

Chaos in the US Senate after a surprising turnaround in the votes on Donald Trump's impeachment procedure: The Senate voted with a majority of 55 to 45 votes in principle for witness questioning after the accusers of the House of Representatives surprisingly pushed through the hearing of a witness. Five Republicans also voted yes. However, it was then initially unclear what exactly had been voted on: a debate on witness interviews, consent to witness interviews by the Democrats or consent to witness interviews in general.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham changed his vote from "no" to "yes" after the vote. Another senator asked what had actually been voted on. TV commentators were also at a loss. The current Senate meeting was temporarily interrupted.

It also remains unclear whether the Senate will hear other witnesses after the Republican hearing. The MP had reported on Saturday night on a phone call between Trump and the Republican minority leader in the Chamber of Congress, Kevin McCarthy, during the storming of the Capitol on January 6, and thus incriminated the ex-President again. While McCarthy reportedly urged Trump in the conversation to step in and prompt his supporters to turn back, Trump is said to have shown himself indifferent.

Trump on January 6 in his address to the Capitol stormers.

(Photo: AP)

Beutler stated explicitly that Kevin McCarthy had told her that Trump even showed sympathy for the attackers in a phone call during the storming of the Capitol. Accordingly, McCarthy tried to convince Trump on January 6th to call on the attackers to withdraw from the Capitol. Trump refused and said: "Well, Kevin, I think these people are more upset about the (presidential) election than you are."

Prosecutor Raskin called the news "breaking news". The MP must therefore testify before the Senate, possibly via an online video service.

"The time to finish this"

Trump's defense attorney Michael van der Veen replied in the Senate that if witnesses were called, he would need "more than 100 statements", "not just one". He then asked for the trial to be completed without a witness. "Now is the time to finish this." Van der Veen threatened to summon House Chairwoman Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris. His request for a testimony from the Democrats was aimed primarily at dissuading the prosecutors from opening the door to hearing additional witnesses.

Democratic chief prosecutor Jamie Raskin

(Photo: REUTERS)

In the last impeachment trial against Trump a year ago over the Ukraine affair, there were no witnesses in the Senate. The Republicans had prevented that with their then majority in the Congress Chamber.

The Democrats blame Trump for storming the Capitol with five dead. They accuse him of "inciting a riot" and want him never to be allowed to hold public office at the federal level again. A conviction of Trump had recently been considered almost impossible. For the two-thirds majority required for a guilty verdict, at least 17 Republican senators would have to vote together with the 50 Democrats. The vast majority of Republicans were expected to vote in favor of acquittal. Most recently, according to media reports, the leader of the US Republicans in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, said he wanted to vote against a conviction.

On Friday evening it looked as if the case against Trump in the Senate could probably be concluded on Saturday, after only five days of negotiations. It looks different after the latest developments.