The US Senate welcomed the Democrats’ request to hear witnesses in the impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump, accused of fomenting the attack on Congress by his supporters on January 6. The decision of the Senate, which approved the request with 55 votes in favor, including those of 5 Republican senators, will actually lengthen the time of the trial, which according to the most optimistic calculations could have ended tonight.
The request was made by the Democrats after a Republican congresswoman, Jaime Herrera Beutler, on Friday evening, he said he knew by the leader of the Republicans in the House, Kevin McCarthy, who explicitly took the side of the attackers in a phone call with McCarthy during the attack on Congress. The Democrats therefore intend to have Herrera Beutler testify to reinforce their thesis that Trump made a conscious decision not to stop the uprising, in fact allowing it to happen.
The defense and most Republicans opposed the request arguing that there was no need to hear any witnesses, but after the Senate vote in favor they threatened to block the trial by calling dozens of people to testify. Trump’s impeachment trial it started four days ago and unless there are huge surprises it will end in an acquittal given that the favorable votes of at least 16 Republican senators would be needed to condemn Trump, and at the moment there are far fewer undecided senators.
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