Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Monday defended his call for impeachment testimony from four new witnesses, including former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, saying there is not a "single reason" why the witnesses or documents that are being sought should not be available.
"I don't know what they'll say," Schumer told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "Maybe they'll be exculpatory to President Trump. But to not have them is to engage in a cover-up [and] is to say we're afraid. The American people will ask of President Trump and people like Mitch McConnell if he doesn't have a full and fair trial, what are you hiding?"
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, shortly after Schumer's appearance on the MSNBC show, mocked his call for a fair trial.
"'Let us hope that fairness will prevail' a laughable quote from @SenSchumer this AM....after the dems release an 'impeachment report' in the middle of the night," Grisham tweeted. "Thankfully the people of this country continue to see the partisan sham that this is."
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Sunday, Schumer proposed his plan for a "fair and honest trial" while trying to launch negotiations before the House votes this week on whether to impeach Trump.
In addition to Bolton and Mulvaney, Schumer called for two other White House officials — top Mulvaney aide Robert Blair and Michael Duffey, a budget official who was asked to handle the Ukraine issue — to testify.
On Monday, however, Schumer rejected calling in former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter to testify despite Republican demands, saying that the younger Biden would not have direct knowledge of the charges Trump faces.
Schumer also said it's "premature" for him to comment on whether the House should delay a vote to submit the two articles of impeachment against Trump to the Senate, but said he is "hopeful we can get a fair trial."
"That's why we put out this document," said Schumer. "I spent a lot of time thinking about this and crafting it so no one could say it leaned one way or the other."