Senate blocks witnesses, clearing path to acquittal

WASHINGTON • The Senate has brought President Donald Trump to the brink of acquittal of charges that he abused his power and obstructed Congress, as Republicans voted to block consideration of new witnesses and documents in his impeachment trial.

A final push by Democrats to bolster their case for the President's removal was shut down by the Republicans on Friday.

In a nearly party-line vote after a bitter debate, Democrats failed to win support from the four Republicans they needed.

With Mr Trump's acquittal virtually certain, his allies rallied to his defence, though some conceded he was guilty of the central allegations against him.

The Democrats' push for more witnesses and documents failed 49-51, with only two Republicans, Mr Mitt Romney of Utah and Ms Susan Collins of Maine, joining Democrats in favour.

A vote on the verdict is planned for Wednesday.

As they approached the final stage of the third presidential impeachment proceeding in American history, Democrats condemned the witness vote and said it would render Mr Trump's trial illegitimate and his acquittal meaningless.

"America will remember this day, unfortunately, where the Senate did not live up to its responsibilities, when the Senate turned away from truth and went along with a sham trial," said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. "If the President is acquitted, with no witnesses, no documents, the acquittal will have no value because Americans will know that this trial was not a real trial."

Even as they prepared to vote against removing him, several Republicans challenged Mr Trump's repeated assertions that he had done nothing wrong, saying they believed he had committed the main offence of which he was accused: withholding nearly US$400 million (S$546 million) in military aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate former vice-president Joe Biden and other Democrats.

Still, those Republicans said, they were unwilling to remove a president fewer than 10 months before he is to face voters.

"If you are persuaded that he did it, why do you need more witnesses?" said Senator Lamar Alexander, a critical swing vote on the issue whose late decision to oppose considering new evidence all but sealed Mr Trump's swift acquittal.

"The country is not going to accept being told that they can't elect the president they want to elect in the week the election starts by a majority for a merely inappropriate telephone call or action," Mr Alexander added.

"You don't apply capital punishment for every offence."

The vote signalled the end of a saga that has consumed Washington and threatened Mr Trump's hold on the presidency for the past five months, since the emergence in September of an anonymous whistle-blower complaint accusing him of using the levers of government to push Ukraine to interfere on his behalf in the 2020 election.

Senators recessed the trial for the weekend and will return tomorrow for closing arguments, with a vote on the verdict on Wednesday.

The timetable will rob Mr Trump of the opportunity to use his State of the Union address scheduled for Tuesday night to boast about his acquittal, a prospect he has relished for several weeks.

Instead, he will become only the second president to deliver the speech during his own impeachment trial.

The senators adopted the plan by a partisan vote on Friday night, but only after Democrats tried one last time to subpoena four administration officials, including former national security adviser John Bolton, and a collection of documents relevant to the case.

The outcome of the final vote was not in doubt. It would take a two-thirds majority - 67 senators - to convict Mr Trump and remove him from office. He has insisted that he did nothing wrong, calling a July telephone conversation in which he asked the President of Ukraine to investigate his political rivals "perfect" and the impeachment inquiry a "sham".

Ms Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, which impeached Mr Trump on Dec 18, accused Republicans who voted against allowing witnesses of being "accomplices to the President's cover-up".

"He is impeached forever," she said. "There can be no acquittal without a trial. And there is no trial without witnesses, documents and evidence."

NYTIMES, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE