The Senate on Saturday voted 55-45 to accept a surprise request by Democrats to potentially stall for days President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial by calling at least one witness.
Impeachment managers led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said they want to depose and subpoena notes written by Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) regarding Trump’s remarks during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, which he was impeached for allegedly inciting.
Herrera Buetler said overnight that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told her that he pleaded with Trump during the riot to call his supporters off, but that Trump told him, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”
Herrera Buetler — one of 10 House Republicans who voted last month to impeach Trump — said in a press release that she was not a direct witness to Trump’s remarks to McCarthy, but that the GOP leader “relayed to me” what Trump said.
Five Republicans backed the request for trial witnesses.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned Democrats before the surprise announcement by Raskin that “if you want a delay, it will be a long one with many, many witnesses.”
He then changed his vote to aye, after first voting nay, an indication he and the GOP will want to call their own witnesses, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Raskin’s request for witnesses stunned even Democrats, some of whom arrived to the Senate chamber on Saturday saying they didn’t feel they were needed.
“This is a wrench. Everything has changed,” a Senate Democratic insider told The Post.
The decision to prolong the trial threatens to distract from the Democrats and President Biden’s political agenda, including the effort to pass a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill. Biden’s first month in office already has been consumed by debate over his predecessor.
Opening the door to witnesses potentially allows a diverse array of characters to be deposed. Democrats and swing-vote Republicans may push to broaden the pool of witnesses beyond Herrera Buetler.
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats, told reporters on Saturday that he’d like to hear from McCarthy himself.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) hinted she wanted to hear from former Vice President Mike Pence, whose interactions with Trump on Jan. 6 remain murky. “I think a lot of us are curious about the situation with the vice president,” she said.
Sen. Shledon Whitehouse (D-RI) advocated on Twitter that managers should “depose McCarthy and [Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy] Tuberville under oath and get facts. Ask Secret Service to produce for review comms back to White House re VP Pence safety during siege. What did Trump know, and when did he know it?”
Tuberville, a Trump loyalist, said during the trial that he told Trump on the phone around 2:15 pm that Pence had been evacuated from the Senate. Democratic managers noted that Trump tweeted at 2:24 pm attacking Pence, writing he “didn’t have the courage” to reject swing state Biden electors.
Many Republican senators were furious over the move for witnesses. They vented that it was unfair and will only benefit the prosecution because of rules requiring a majority vote on specific witnesses.
“Last night left wing Twitter start[ed] beating up the managers for not calling witnesses & this morning they caved,” Rubio tweeted.
“By a majority vote the Democrats can now force a trial where the House Managers get their witnesses & former President Trump gets none. A complete farce.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told reporters at the Capitol that “it’s just going to inflame the situation.”
“It’s not unifying. It’s just like opening up a wound and just rubbing salt in it. And I thought we were gonna come to a conclusion here today — and let’s rip the wound back open, let’s rub more salt in it,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that it would be unfair for Trump’s defense to be unable to call witnesses. “If you really want to have any semblance of fair due process, you’ve got to let the defense team put on a case,” he said.
Trump defense attorney Michael van der Veen said on the Senate floor that he was outraged that Democrats made the decision, saying it was commonly understood that the trial would conclude with four hours of closing arguments on Saturday.
Van der Veen said he would fight to subpoena a large number of people and rejected Raskin’s proposal that only Herrera Buetler be deposed and via Zoom.
“I’m gonna slap subpoenas on a good number of people if witnesses are what is required here for them to try to get their case back in order,” he said.
“Nancy Pelosi’s deposition needs to be taken. Vice President Harris’ deposition absolutely needs to be taken. And not by Zoom. None of these depositions should be done by Zoom. We didn’t do this hearing by Zoom. These depositions should be done in person in my office in Philadelphia. That’s where they should be done.”
Witnesses were not called during Trump’s first impeachment trial last year.
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