Despite previous reports that Senate Republicans don’t have votes to block more witnesses from appearing in the Senate trial, the tides appear to have turned and now the New York Times reported that by Wednesday afternoon, “Democrats were sounding a note of pessimism about the prospect of witnesses and securing new evidence in the trial.”
Even Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is conceding that the Democrats are, in fact, losing the battle. “We’ve always known it will be an uphill fight on witnesses and documents because the president and Mitch McConnell put huge pressure on these folks,” he said.
“Is it more likely than not? Probably no,” Schumer added. “But is it a decent, good chance? Yes.”
Colorado Republican Cory Gardner, who was seen as a possible vote for more witnesses, said he would vote “no,” complicating the Democrats’ path to 51 votes.
Senator John Barrasso (R-Wy.), the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, said he’s “heard enough” and predicts that the Senate will vote to acquit by the end of the week. According to Barrasso, the plan is to vote on the two articles of impeachment on Friday.
“The momentum is clearly in the direction of moving to final judgment on Friday. That vote will be Friday. We still have a couple members who said they want to listen to the answers to questions, but that’s where the momentum is,” Barrasso said. Other Republicans echoed that prediction.
As Katie Pavlich noted at Townhall, “In the end if Senators vote against new witnesses, it will be to preserve the integrity and dignity of the Senate and will serve as a rejection of the House’s incomplete, weak case against President Trump.”
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Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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