Lamar Alexander says he will announce decision on witnesses vote Thursday night – CNN, CNN

But Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, who served as a congressional staffer during the Nixon impeachment investigation , argued that even then, at first, “The parties were as dug in as parties are today. “

Lofgren said that she” honestly “believed that when a government whistleblower came forward with evidence of Trump’s wrongdoing, the two parties would come together as they did under Nixon. “It didn’t happen, much to my disappointment,” she acknowledged.

But she said that the Senate had a “opportunity” to do what the House did not: hear from first-hand witnesses such as former national security adviser John Bolton , who reportedly heard from Trump in August that he wanted to continue withholding nearly $ million in aid to Ukraine until it backed a politically- damaging investigation into his rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.

Last year, the House impeachment inquiry asked Bolton to testify, but he refused. He has since said he would come forward if subpoenaed by the Senate.

“Let’s see if that kind of information can help the senators come together as happened in the House Judiciary Committee so many years ago, when we dealt with the serious problem of presidential misconduct – abuse of power to cheat an election – when Richard Nixon shocked the nation and ultimately had to resign, “said Lofgren.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer then jumped in to ask a question to the House managers, attempting to assuage Republicans’ concerns that a fight over witnesses would consume the Senate. On Wednesday, deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin said that the House’s request for witnesses “would be very grave” for the Senate as an institution and prevent its work for months. Alexander took copious notes while Philbin spoke.

But Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead House impeachment manager , responded on Thursday that they could depose witnesses in a week, while letting the Senate work, and then return to discuss what they found. He also charged that the White House defense does not want witnesses because they would “incriminate” the President.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell then inserted himself into the trial and asked a question , read aloud by Chief Justice John Roberts, asking the White House defense team to respond to Alexander’s question.

Philbin noted that the House’s vote to authorize the inquiry was more partisan than during the Nixon and Clinton eras. He then made the broad point to the central of their case: the House managers had not alleged a statutory crime, only abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, which he called “infinitely malleable” and tantamount to maladministration. Later, under further questioning, Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow said the witness fight as described was not fair, saying the managers want to only call the witnesses they want, while blocking the ones Trump’s team would want, like the whistleblower or Biden.

“They are not irrelevant to our case,” Sekulow said.

The Senate soon took a break for dinner. Alexander privately met with Murkowski.

Afterward, Alexander told CNN that he would announce his decision on witnesses after the final question on Thursday night.

“We were just talking,” Alexander said.

This story has been updated with additional developments Thursday.