The Senate is expected to hold an acquittal vote in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump next week, Republican senators told reporters on Friday evening.
Following a closed-door Senate Republican conference meeting, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Sen. Mike Braun (R-ID) said the upper chamber will vote on an organizing resolution to establish the procedures for next week’s votes. Lawmakers are expected to deliver their closing arguments on Monday and hold open deliberations Tuesday. A vote on the articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — will occur Wednesday.
Earlier Friday, the Senate voted 51-49 against a motion to allow for subpoenas to be issued for additional witnesses and documents in the trial.
In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell lauded the vote’s outcome and predicted that the trial will end “in the coming days.”
“A majority of the U.S. Senate has determined that the numerous witnesses and 28,000-plus pages of documents already in evidence are sufficient to judge the House Managers’ accusations and end this impeachment trial. There is no need for the Senate to re-open the investigation which the House Democratic majority chose to conclude and which the Managers themselves continue to describe as “overwhelming” and “beyond any doubt,” said McConnell.
“Never in Senate history has this body paused an impeachment trial to pursue additional witnesses with unresolved questions of executive privilege that would require protracted litigation. We have no interest in establishing such a new precedent, particularly for individuals whom the House expressly chose not to pursue,” added the Kentucky Republican added.
“Senators will now confer among ourselves, with the House Managers, and with the President’s counsel to determine next steps as we prepare to conclude the trial in the coming days,” he concluded.
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