Ahead of a tight vote on whether to hear new witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial, the Senate is preparing for the possibility that this crucial roll call could end in a tie
Ahead of a tight vote on whether to hear new witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, the Senate is preparing for the possibility that this crucial roll call has an asterisk in the history books: It ends in a tie.AdvertisementRoberts would not break a tie vote during Trump’s impeachment trial, citing past precedent, the Constitution and their own gut feelings about how it would play in a polarized nation.
Some Democrats are beginning to opine that Roberts could save the Senate from itself and force consideration of witnesses if there's a tie. As Sen. Jon Tester put it: “If he wants a fair, impartial trial and get the evidence out, I think there’s a fair shot he would vote for witnesses.” A tied vote is not impossible to imagine. Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine are the firmest Republicans in favor of voting for witnesses. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has expressed some interest in hearing from former national security adviser John Bolton but has been less committal. If those three joined all 47 Democrats, the vote would be tied, and would fail under the rules, unless Roberts weighs in.
After Republican leaders spent days making arguments that new witnesses would tie up the Senate for weeks, turn the chamber into a circus and lead to endless litigation, McConnell began whipping his caucus in earnest on Tuesday afternoon at a private party meeting. Those two statements shrank the pool of undecided Republicans down to Sen. Lamar Alexander , Rob Portman and a couple others. Alexander is the only other senator that fought to have a vote on whether to consider more witnesses and theIf Alexander votes against witnesses, but Murkowski joins Romney and Collins, a tie vote becomes a real possibility — something Republicans want to avoid, even as they say the chief justice is unlikely to wade in on such an explosive issue.
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