Congressional Republicans are developing alternative plans in the event some GOP senators decide to join Democrats' demands for additional witnesses in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, Fox News is reporting.
The move comes as several Democrats are reportedly considering voting to acquit Trump.
And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said Republicans do not have enough votes to prevent impeachment witnesses.
Now, one of the plans being looked at by Republican senators would be to amend any resolution calling for a specific witness to include a package of witnesses the Senate would not support.
Fox News said an example would be if Democrats seek to call former National Security Adviser John Bolton. In turn, Republicans might subpoena Hunter Biden to testify about business dealings with Ukraine and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. to provide details about any prior contact with the whistleblower who sparked in the impeach inquiry.
And even if the package of witnesses was approved, the resolution could be written in such a way that the trial would end if any key witness defies a subpoena.
Fox News, attributing the information to a source, noted that another option would be for the White House to block certain witnesses, like Bolton, by asserting executive privilege.
Meanwhile, Politico reported that three Senate Democrats, including Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Doug Jones of Alabama and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are considering whether to vote to convict Trump or give him a bipartisan acquittal.
“But I have not made a final decision,” Manchin said. “Every day, I hear something, I think ‘this is compelling, that’s compelling,’”
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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