After a month of political back-and-forth, it seems Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will be convening a vote on Wednesday to send the articles of impeachment up to the Senate. While the Speaker had been holding out for more concrete guarantees on the process that the Senate trial will use, the impasse between the House and Senate only widened as the weeks went on.
Now, with a month since the House’s historic vote to impeach Donald Trump, Pelosi seems to be ready to simply get the ordeal over with. The vote to send the articles up to the Senate won’t come with the knowledge that the trial will include witnesses, but it’s not all bad news for Democrats.
Sources close to Senate Republicans seem to expect some members of the Senate to flip from the party line on the matter of witnesses. Republicans have, up to this point, presented a unified front in defending Trump. However, there are a number of Republican Senators who might flip from the party and vote to allow witnesses.
One of the expected defectors in this matter could be Mitt Romney, who has expressed interest in hearing from national security advisor John Bolton. Bolton, for his part, has indicated that he would testify were he under subpoena. Other potential Republican witness votes could come from Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Cory Gardner.
Some have referred to Rand Paul as a “wild card” in this regard, claiming that he could swing either way on the vote. With Democrats holding 45 seats and independents in 2 others, the four or five Republican defections could make a huge difference in the way the Senate trial is operated.
Anonymous sources close to the president have claimed that Trump will likely claim executive privilege to keep John Bolton from testifying about certain subjects, should the Senate allow witnesses. The White House would likely seek to prevent Bolton from discussing direct conversations with the President, though it is unclear whether Bolton would have to adhere to executive privilege when under Congressional subpoena.
Trump has tweeted support for the Senate to simply throw out the articles of impeachment without a trial at all. Over the weekend, he tweeted “Many believe that by the Senate giving credence to a trial based on the no evidence, no crime, read the transcripts, ‘no pressure’ Impeachment Hoax, rather than an outright dismissal, it gives the partisan Democrat Witch Hunt credibility that it otherwise does not have. I agree!”
This turn of events, however, seems unlikely. It is much more likely that the Senate will be facing a lengthy trial, and it is more likely than not that witnesses will bring some clarity to the ongoing drama in the capital.
