US Democrats have pressed the Republican-controlled Senate to call Donald Trump’s top lieutenants to testify in its trial of the impeached president, as they sought to focus attention on the trial ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
A day after the US House of Representatives impeached Mr Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would not yet formally hand off impeachment to the Senate until she got a sense of how Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell would manage the trial.
“We’re ready when we see what they have,” she told a news conference on Thursday.
Democrats want Mr McConnell to allow top Mr Trump aides like Mick Mulvaney, the White House acting chief of staff, and John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, to testify, according to a senior Democratic aide.
“Is the president’s case so weak that none of the president’s men can defend him under oath?” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer asked.
In a historic vote on Wednesday, House Democrats impeached Mr Trump for alleged abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to his attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democratic political foe Joe Biden.
He is only the third US president to be impeached.
The Senate trial is expected in early January.
Mr Trump himself has expressed an interest in a long trial with witnesses, but senior Republican senators want it to be short to try to put the affair behind them.
They point out that there were no live witnesses at the 1999 impeachment trial of Bill Clinton.
Mr McConnell and Mr Schumer met on Thursday afternoon.
Asked how he felt about Ms Pelosi potentially withholding the articles of impeachment, Mr McConnell said: “If the speaker wants to hold onto them it’s fine with us.”
Earlier, Mr McConnell called Mr Trump’s impeachment “toxic” and accused Democrats of succumbing to “transient passions and factionalism,” and made it clear that he did not think the Senate should find Mr Trump guilty.
“The vote did not reflect what had been proven. It only reflects how they feel about the president. The Senate must put this right,” Mr McConnell said on the Senate floor.
Mr Trump, 73, is accused of abusing his power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate Mr Biden, a former US vice president, as well as a discredited theory that Democrats conspired with Ukraine to meddle in the 2016 election.
Democrats say that as part of his pressure campaign, Mr Trump held back $US391 million ($569 million) in security aid for Ukraine and a coveted White House meeting for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as leverage to coerce Kiev into interfering in the 2020 election by smearing Mr Biden.
Mr Trump is also accused of obstruction of Congress for directing administration officials and agencies not to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry.
A Senate trial would kick off a politically-charged year heading into the presidential election, which will pit Trump against one of a field of Democratic contenders, including Biden, who have repeatedly criticised Trump’s conduct in office and promised to make it a key issue.
The Senate is highly unlikely to find Mr Trump guilty and remove him from office, however.
At least 20 Republican senators would have to vote to convict Mr Trump and so far none have indicated they are open to doing so.
Mr McConnell has said he is working in tandem with the White House on trial preparations, drawing accusations from Democrats that he is ignoring his duty to consider the evidence in an impartial manner.
But Ms Pelosi’s tactic gives Democrats time to convince some Senate Republicans that they should hear from witnesses, said Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen.
Mr Trump has denied wrongdoing and called the impeachment inquiry launched by Ms Pelosi in September a “witch hunt”.
-AAP
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