The Senate trial could be over by the weekend if Republicans have the votes.
January 30, 2020, 3:53 PM
6 min read
Senators return at 1 p.m. Thursday for a second day of questions to House managers and President Donald Trump’s legal team in his impeachment trial as attempts by Democrats to rally votes for new witnesses appear to have stalled.
After more than 90 questions and 8 hours of debate on Wednesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated to Republican senators he believes he now has the votes to defeat any Democratic motion that the Senate consider new witnesses when the Senate decides that question on Friday, according to two GOP sources. That would allow him to skip to the final stages of the trial, the sources said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks through the Capitol during the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, Jan. 29, 2020 in Washington, D.C.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks through the Capitol during the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, Jan. 29, 2020 in Washington, D.C.Zach Gibson/Getty Images
Multiple Republicans tell ABC News they hope to move quickly to acquit the president within the next two days, ahead of his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
ABC News' Trish Turner caught up with McConnell as he arrived at the Capitol Thursday morning.
Asked if he has the votes he needs to win the day Friday on witnesses, he responded, “We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
Then, when asked if he felt confident about the vote, he turned his head and with a sly grin and said, “I always do.”
In the late hours of debate on Wednesday, Trump's defense team offered two new controversial defenses. In one -- even if Trump intentionally withheld military aid from Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into Joe Biden, White House lawyers argued, those actions are not grounds for impeachment.
“Mere information is not something that would violate the campaign finance laws … it’s not campaign interference for credible information about wrongdoing to be brought to light, if it's credible information,” White House deputy counsel Patrick Philbin argued Wednesday night.
Deputy White House Counsel Patrick Philbin answers questions during impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump at the Capitol, Jan. 29, 2020.
Deputy White House Counsel Patrick Philbin answers questions during impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump at the Capitol, Jan. 29, 2020. ABC News
After the close of Wednesday’s session, Democrats forcefully rejected the idea that requesting foreign assistance is ever appropriate and legal.
“I think the most important thing was that the White House deputy counsel said that it's okay to take dirt on your opponent from a foreign government as long as it's credible. And you know what, that's not true. That's actually against the law,” Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow told reporters.
The argument from the White House counsel reinforces a controversial statement President Trump himself made in a June interview with ABC News.
"It's not an interference, they have information -- I think I'd take it," Trump told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopolous. "If I thought there was something wrong, I'd go maybe to the FBI -- if I thought there was something wrong.
The response prompted a reaction from the Federal Election Commission at the time.
“It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election,” FEC Chair Ellen Weintraub said in a statement. “This is not a novel concept.”
White House counsel Alan Dershowitz speaks during impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump at the Capitol, Jan. 29, 2020.
White House counsel Alan Dershowitz speaks during impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump at the Capitol, Jan. 29, 2020.ABC News
In addition to that argument, former Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz is drawing Democratic fire for arguing that President Trump could not be impeached because he was “acting in the national interest.”
"Every public official that I know believes that his election is of the public interest," he said.
"If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment," Dershowitz maintained.
Democrats voiced alarm about that expansive interpretation of executive power.
Ahead of the return to senators' questions Thursday, House impeachment manager Jason Crow called Dershowitz's argument "astounding."
"That is just a very dangerous hole to go down,” Crow told MSNBC.
Republican Sen. John Barasso declined to answer in an interview Thursday about whether he thought the argument was valid.
“I have heard enough. I am ready to make that vote and I know that the momentum in the Republican caucus is to do that as well,” told CNN.
ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Mary Bruce contributed to this report.
