Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that he is "absolutely not" certain that senators will vote to allow witnesses to testify and documents to be submitted in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, but he does think there may be a "reasonable chance."
"Do we have a chance? A reasonable chance?" the New York Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "Particularly if we keep fighting the case and they don't have any good argument against it, which they don't, yes, I'm hopeful we can ... when our Republican friends go to sleep and think of the weight of the Constitution on their shoulders and think history will record them, yeah. I think we've got a shot. I do."
Democrats have wrapped up their opening comments, and Schumer said he hopes the House impeachment managers have persuaded some of the chamber's Republicans, especially on the issue of witnesses and documents.
"We have 10, 12 Republicans who have never said anything negative about witnesses and documents, and that's because it's so obvious," said Schumer. He added that Republicans were "riveted" during testimony Thursday that included the footage of Col. Alexander Vindman, the director for European Affairs for the U.S. National Security Council, testifying that he told his father that in America, "we believe in the truth."
Further, there has not been a "single answer" why witnesses and documents should not be included in the trial, said Schumer, who specified testimony from acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney could be vital.
"We hear a lot of finger-pointing and shiny objects,' he said. "Oh, they're taken too long, or, oh, Nancy [Pelosi] handed out pens, or, oh, Jerry Nadler said these words, but they cannot answer the argument," said Schumer.
But Mulvaney was "the chief cook and bottle washer who knew everything," said Schumer. "Why aren't we listening to him? Hearing what he has to say?"
Meanwhile, the idea of trading off on witnesses has never really been considered, said Schumer, but Republicans can call in Hunter Biden on their own because they have enough votes to do that but are too fearful of what he will say.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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