Daily US Times, Washington: Several key witnesses who declined to cooperate with House investigators might be called by Senate Democrats as a part of the Senate trial deciding wheater President Trump should be removed from the office or not.
Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader, sent a three-page letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell where he outlined his priorities and a possible structure for a weekslong Senate trial. The move marked the first formal step between the two leaders to negotiate a compromise on the ongoing impeachment process. This move will help establish how long a trial will run and whether witnesses would be called to testify as part of the process.
Schumer writes in his letter hoping the fair should be fair ‘Senate Democrats believe strongly, and I trust Senate Republicans agree, that this trial must be one that is fair, that considers all of the relevant facts, and that exercises the Senate’s ‘sole Power of Impeachment. He describes the trial as ‘fairness test with the American people’.
‘That is the great challenge for the Senate in the coming weeks,’ Schumer added.
Earlier this week, Senate Republican member Lindsay Graham said it otherwise.
Graham said he would do everything to make sure Trump impeachment trial in the Senate ends quickly. He said on Saturday’ his thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly’.
He was giving an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson at the Doha Forum in Qatar.
After the letter issued, McConnell spokesman Doug Andres said that McConnell plans to meet with Schumer to discuss a deal.
Andres added, ‘Leader McConnell has made it clear he plans to meet with Leader Schumer to discuss the contours of a trial soon. That timeline has not changed.’
The Senate is controlled by the Republican (53 to 47) . As the Republican majority is slim, the trial could be more different if they had more control in the Senate. Though it is still highly unlikely for Trump to be impeached in the Senate.
Schumer asks the Chief Justice John Roberts to issue subpoenas for four key officials who were called by House Democrats and refused to appear. Mr Roberts is the Supreme Court’s chief judge who will be tasked with presiding over the trial.
The four were named by dozens of witnesses in closed-door testimony. It is believed that these people has information which will be key to the House investigation wheater Trump withheld $400 million Ukraine military aid. They also might have knowledge about a White House meeting from Ukraine in exchange for the country working on two investigations that were helpful to him politically, charges that led to two articles of impeachment that the House will vote on later this week.
