Washington - The White House on Sunday
signaled comfort with plans by Senate Republicans to avoid new
witnesses in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, while a
top Democrat seized on a newly released email on the withholding
of US aid to Ukraine to press his case for testimony.
The Democratic-led House of Representatives approved two
impeachment charges against Trump on Wednesday over his
pressuring of Ukraine to investigate a political rival. There is
little chance he will be convicted and removed from office
through a trial in a Senate controlled by fellow Republicans.
Democrats are pushing to call top Trump aides to testify,
but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants the Senate to
consider the case without hearing from new witnesses.
The Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, told reporters in
New York that an email made public on Saturday about military
assistance to Kiev underscored the need for witnesses.
The email, obtained by the Center for Public Integrity
through a court order in a Freedom of Information Act case,
showed senior White House budget official Michael Duffey
directing the Pentagon to withhold the aid just 91 minutes after
Trump concluded a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
In testimony to Congress last month, however, U.S.
Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland said he was
first informed on July 18 that the White House was withholding
security aid to Ukraine. "I was never able to obtain a clear
answer regarding the specific reason for the hold," he added.
The aid and the Trump-Zelinskiy call are at the heart of the
impeachment case put together by Democrats, and Duffey is one of
the four witnesses Schumer has proposed calling.
"If there was ever an argument that we need Mr. Duffey to
come and testify, this is that information," Schumer said.
While Trump had indicated an interest in calling separate
witnesses in his defense, he has also said he would go along
with whatever decision McConnell and other Senate Republican
leaders make.
In remarks on Sunday talk shows, Marc Short, chief of staff
to Vice President Mike Pence, indicated the White House was on
board with McConnell's goal of a speedy trial.
"The American people are tired of this sham," Short said on
NBC's "Meet the Press."
"To the extent that there's a prolonged trial, we're not
anxious about that," he said. "Our administration is anxious to
get back to working for the American people ... We've had a lot
of witnesses already."
Lawmakers left Washington for a holiday break on Friday at
loggerheads over how to proceed.
To ramp up pressure on McConnell to permit new testimony,
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - the top Democrat in Congress - has
postponed sending the impeachment charges to the Senate.
Republicans have suggested Democrats want witnesses because
the case they have assembled is so weak, while Democrats portray
Republicans as scared about what new testimony might reveal.
"If her case is so air tight ... why does she need more
witnesses?" Short said on "Fox News Sunday."
REPUBLICAN MODERATES
Trump is only the third U.S. president to be impeached. The
others were Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998.
Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 as he faced the threat of
impeachment.
The House charged Trump with abusing his power by holding
back $391 million in security aid to Ukraine in an effort to get
Kiev to announce a corruption investigation of former Vice
President Joe Biden, a leading candidate for the Democratic
nomination to face Trump in the November 2020 election.
Trump was also charged with obstructing Congress by
directing administration officials and agencies not to cooperate
with the impeachment inquiry. He says he did nothing wrong and
has dismissed his impeachment as a partisan bid to undo his 2016
election win.
"The American people and the United States Senate deserve to
have a full, fair and complete trial and that means witnesses,
it means documents," Democratic Senator Doug Jones told ABC's
"This Week."
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and
Democrats are hoping a few moderate Republicans will support
their bid for further testimony and force McConnell's hand.
"The leverage is our hope that four Republican senators will
stand up ... and say this is much bigger than our current
political squabbles," Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the
Senate, told CNN's "State of the Union."
"If four Republican senators step up, it can make a big
difference," he said.