Vermont’s two U.S. Senators voted in favor of a motion that would allow witnesses to testify. But the effort fell short, 51-49, despite two Republicans crossing the aisle to vote in favor — all but confirming the country’s third-ever impeachment trial will soon reach its finale.
Minutes after the vote, Leahy told Seven Days the decision means that, for the first time in American history, an impeachment trial may conclude without any witness testimony.
“It just boggles the mind,” he said in a phone interview.
The former prosecutor further condemned the process in a statement before Friday’s vote, saying it reminded him of the trial depicted in Alice in Wonderland, during which a jury is asked to consider its verdict moments after hearing the accusations.
“But even in that case it was acknowledged that ‘There’s a great deal to come before that,’ and the first witness was called,” Leahy wrote. “With apologies to Lewis Carroll, surely the United States Senate can at least match the rigorous criminal procedure of Wonderland?”
Sanders echoed his seatmate’s criticism, calling the proceeding a “show trial.”
“This is outrageous,” he said in a pre-taped video posted to Twitter after the vote. “This is a mockery of justice. And is sadly consistent with a president who believes he is above the law.”
Democrats had sought witnesses who could further speak to the central question of the impeachment proceedings: whether Trump withheld Ukrainian aid in exchange for investigations into his political rival.
Calls for further testimony intensified earlier this week when the New York Times reported that Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton alleges in an upcoming book that the president directly linked the aid with the investigations during an August conversation.
But it had become increasingly clear in the days leading up to Friday’s vote that Democrats would not be able to find the necessary support from Republicans, who have offered various rationales for blocking the motion. Some went as far as to say that while the trial had indeed proved that the president committed the acts he’s accused of, it’s not enough to remove him from office.
Leahy took to Twitter before the vote to describe it as one of the most “consequential” days of his 45 years in the Senate. He warned his colleagues that their decisions would “define our system of government for years to come.”
“The sum of our public life may be remembered by today,” he wrote.
After the vote, he suggested some of his colleagues across the aisle would be remembered for failing to vote their conscience.
“Even the people who tell you privately they’re concerned with what the president did, they’re afraid to cross him and have to face Republican voters at home,” he told Seven Days. “Nobody owns a seat in the U.S. Senate.”
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Party politics at it’s best.
Sanders should have recused himself since he is running for President. Can you say conflict of interest. Biased vote. The votes were already cast before any word was muttered in the senate.
Huh, Leahy and Sanders didn’t seem to mind when Republican witnesses were blocked from testifying in front of the house. Weird.
https://www.scribd.com/document/434181420/Republican-Witness-List-Impeachment-Probe
The Republican senators are now accessories in Obstruction of Justice. They have moved the country a little closer to what they truly want: Right Wing fascism White Supremacist style ala’ Trump.
The pigs won tonight. Now we have to make them eat it and choke on it right up to the election.
TRUMP TRAIN!!
Who amongst us is surprised that Bernie and St. Patrick are super upset about this turn of events?!
We were told that this was a slam dunk case and for the sake of the nation and as a threat to national security, Trump had to go. Now!
33 days later, after Congress enjoyed a nice vacation break, the articles were finally sent to the Senate. It was then, that the House Managers said they wanted to call more witnesses. Wait, I thought they had Trump nailed? What happened?
I think the Dems took most of the 33 days trying to come up with some sort of strategy that would try to gloss over their sham of a process. They also likely thought that this strategy would keep Bernie out of Iowa (Warren and Klobachar too, but they don’t factor in) giving their best shot, Sleepy Joe a head start. Of course all along, they knew they had a hail Mary to get the Senate to actually find Trump guilty.
Given the economic success of the past few years, do we really need to convert to Socialism, especially given the great prosperity it has brought to other countries?
TED so you’re saying only Bernie should recuse himself from the vote because he is running for president? What about the other senators or are you just talking about him?
Many of the Republican Senators are saying that they believed the House Managers proved their case, BUT, Trump’s ‘bad behavior’ and actions that they brought up did NOT rise to the level of requiring removal from office. Impeachments are, by design, politically subjective. In the Clinton Impeachment they had Bill dead to rights on the perjury impeachment article after the DNA tests scientifically linked his ejaculate to Lewinsky’s dress and there too, even in the face of obvious guilt, the Senators of that time and place did not think his behaviors rose to removal from office either. No more evidence or witnesses are required when it becomes clear to the Majority that the argument at hand does not, and will not, rise to a High Crime or Misdemeanor sufficient to remove from office.
If Leahy claims he didn’t think Clinton was guilty of lying to Congressional Investigators under oath , and that was not his DNA on Lewinsky’s dress, and that’s why he voted to acquit in that case, then he is lying too. He looked the other way to the legal definition of Perjury that Clinton was charged with for political expediency the same way the Republicans of today have done with Trump.
Well Patrick and his comrades think Trump abused his power to get dirt on Biden.
What about the letter to the President of Ukraine asking/demanding that they cooperate with the investigators working on the Mueller Report. Kinda like, make sure you hand over any dirt on Trump.
The letter is a blatant attempt to oust a duly elected sitting President. Since it was St. Patrick and the Mueller Report found nothing damning, the Main Stream Media aka fake news did little to report this.
It’s time for Pat to retire, but maybe he can be impeached, too!
Oh cry me a river little leahy and sanders. Booo hooo.. Leahy who lives in VA. Sanders the socialist who’s never done anything for Vermont (except lie and steal. Sure little Welch is crying in his milk. The 3 bald Amigos of Vermont.
So they’re saying the house needed more evidence.
No one is consistently more out of touch than NorthOldEnder. It’s sad really.
“Minutes after the vote, Leahy told Seven Days the decision means that, for the first time in American history, an impeachment trial may conclude without any witness testimony.”
Why doesn’t Seven Days call out our Senator when he makes an obviously false statement like this? Isn’t that the role of an independent press?
Anyone who was paying attention saw almost 24 hours of witness testimony from the Impeachment hoax House Managers. The House didn’t do their job and presented a farce.
Leahy’s statement is perfectly accurate. Every previous Senate impeachment trial has called witnesses to testify before the Senate “court.” This won’t is going to do that, for the first time in history.
The presentations by House managers included witness testimony presented in the House, but they are NOT what Leahy was talking about. Everyone but “GreenMtnboy2” seems to have understood that, which is why the media did not take issue with his statement.
Ahhhh, so that is why the “media media did not take issue with his statement”, and I thought it was simply because the media has shown their bias and never takes issue with a Democrats statement, and we can thank Trump for exposing and highlighting that media bias.