The final vote has not been determined, but the Senate is rushing to complete the trial in five days, unless Democratic indictments seek witnesses. That could extend the trial to Saturday, though senators in both parties do not expect witnesses to be called.
It is unclear what was decided, but it should become clear after the Senate at 10:00 a.m.
Several assistants said the debate is that witnesses could change the timeline of what Trump knew and when it could in a compelling way, but it is not clear that the witnesses of senators who have already been buried about the verdict would change. Witnesses will also significantly expand the trial, with Senate Democrats eager to move on to President Joe Biden’s agenda.
Democratic senators said Senate leader Chuck Schumer indicated in a call Saturday morning that he did not know if House Democrats would ask for witnesses.
“We were told just a few minutes ago we did not know,” Maryland Senator Ben Cardin told CNN.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, tweeted Friday night that drivers McCarthy and Tuberville should be fired. Asked about it on Saturday, Whitehouse told reporters, “This is not really my call, so we’ll see what team Raskin decides to do,” a reference to the head of indictment manager Jamie Raskin of Maryland.
A person familiar with the strategy of Trump’s legal team said that if Democrats seek witnesses, Trump’s legal team will try to call House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser. Of course, they needed 51 votes to sue witnesses so that would not happen.
The governors have repeatedly refused to say whether they will seek witnesses, although most senators do not expect them to do so. No comment. No comment, ‘Raskin said as he left the Capitol on Friday night.
If there are no witnesses, the indictments and Trump’s attorneys will make closing arguments of up to two hours each before the Senate goes to a final vote, which can be held at 3 p.m. ET, though it has not yet been finalized. It is still unclear whether senators want to hold speeches to explain their votes once the legal teams come to a conclusion.
The outcome of the final vote was already telegraphed earlier in the week, when the Senate voted 56-44 that the indictment was constitutional. The GOP senators who voted for the trial of a former president were unconstitutional, saying it would be the final vote that would leave the Senate far from two-thirds – or 17 GOP senators who would vote for all 50 Democrats had to join – required for conviction.
The six Republicans who voted the trial was constitutional are the GOP senators who left out the possibility that they could vote Trump guilty, after ten House Republicans joined the Democrats in accusing Trump in the House last month . Several Republican senators – Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana – pressed Trump’s lawyers during the Senate’s question-and-answer session on the actions Trump took when he found out. the riots unfolded and tweeted that Mike Pence, then vice president, did not have the courage while being evacuated from the Senate.
House officials have repeatedly argued in the trial that Trump should be found guilty and his future office banned because he was responsible for the riots that plagued the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and endangered the lives of lawmakers and Pence. . They put the case that Trump incited the rioters through months of false allegations that the election was stolen from him, and then took no action to stop the violence or condemn the rioters thereafter.
The defense team presented its rebuttal on Friday in a brief submission in which they tried to equate Trump’s rhetoric with that of Democrats, arguing that political rhetoric is protected by the First Amendment and that Trump’s language does not provoke a riot. which is planned in advance.
This story and headline was updated with further developments Saturday.
