Kansas, Missouri senators vote against calling witnesses at Trump’s impeachment trial
The four Republican senators from the Kansas City region voted against calling witnesses for former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
The Senate voted 55 to 45 to allow for the subpoena of witnesses and documents.
Missouri Sens. Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley and Kansas Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall were among the 45 Republicans who opposed calling witnesses. The region’s senators also opposed calling witnesses at Trump’s first trial last year.
House impeachment managers want to call House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, as a witness following a Friday evening CNN report that McCarthy called Trump on Jan. 6 to beg him to call off the rioters and was rebuffed.
“Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump reportedly told McCarthy, according the lawmakers briefed by the House GOP leader.
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Washington, one of the 10 Republicans who voted for Trump’s impeachment, affirmed the details of the CNN report Friday night in public statement.
Herrera Beutler, whose district covers the Washington side of the Portland metro, had actually given the same account to The Daily News, a small paper in Longview, Washington, weeks earlier.
She told the paper that McCarthy told Trump, “You’ve got to hold them. You need to get on TV right now, you need to get on Twitter, you need to call these people off,” and the then-president refused.
It’ll require additional votes to call McCarthy and Herrera Beutler as witnesses. Trump’s legal team can also offer motions to call other witnesses — and hinted at a desire to call as many as 100 people — but they’re unlikely to succeed in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
The decision to call witnesses could extend the trial for weeks depending on the number called. The Senate had been expected to wrap up the trial Saturday with Trump’s acquittal as it’s unlikely enough Republicans vote to convict to obtain the required two-thirds majority.
The Kansas City region’s lawmakers voting against witnesses came as no surprise based on their public statements. Marshall told reporters that he was anxious to move to a final vote.
“President Trump lives rent free in the heads of these Democrats,” Marshall said Friday.
“I think the trial is basically over with. I’m ready to vote and get on with life. It’s time for us to get back to the work of the people: Working on getting vaccinations in people’s arms and getting the economy open.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2021 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Kansas, Missouri senators vote against calling witnesses at Trump’s impeachment trial."
