Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opposes the idea of calling witnesses during the likely trial on the impeachment articles of President Donald Trump, a new report from the Washington Post revealed on Wednesday.
Though the articles have not officially passed in the House of Representatives, the Senate is expecting to hold the trial in January.
In theory, the trial could give Trump what he desperately wants: a spectacular, fervent defense of his conduct and an opportunity to attack his perceived enemies. What would this mean in practice? He’d love to call witnesses like Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Hunter Biden. None of them have anything relevant to add about the nature of Trump’s conduct — they weren’t witnesses to the events at issue in the impeachment articles — but they would let the president distract from his own wrongdoing and smear the Democrats.