UPDATE: Make that two.
Agreed to (tabled), 53-47: Motion to table Schumer Amendment #1285 to S.Res.483, the Organizing Resolution.
— Senate Cloakroom (@SenateCloakroom) January 21, 2020
ORIGINAL POST
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) proposed amendment to request documents from the White House regarding the decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine was voted down along party lines during the first day of the Senate impeachment trial into President Trump.
The Senate is deliberating on the two articles of impeachment, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, that were passed in a partisan vote in the House in December.
The vote was 53-47, with no Republicans defecting.
Schumer tweeted before the vote wondering if Senate Republicans will vote for a fair trial or "will they enable a cover-up?"
I just took the floor to demand a vote to subpoena the witnesses and documents needed for a fair trial.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 21, 2020
Will Senate Republicans vote for a fair trial?
Or will they enable a cover-up?
During the first round of speaking time, House Intelligence Committee Chairman and impeachment manager Adam Schiff (D-CA) said the Senate should call witnesses to the trial because if they do not, then they would be "kicking the can down the road."
Democrats in the House want the Senate to call on former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Senior Adviser to the acting White House Chief of Staff Robert Blair and Office of Management and Budget official Michael Duffey as witnesses.
"Mr. Schiff also talked about a trifecta. I'll give you a trifecta. During the proceedings that took place before the Judiciary Committee, the president was denied the right to cross-examine witnesses. The president was denied the right to access evidence. And the president was denied the right to have counsel present at hearings. That's a trifecta, a trifecta that violates the Constitution of the United States," Trump defense lawyer Jay Sekulow responded to Schiff.
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