The facts are "largely uncontested" that President Donald Trump is guilty of soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 election, and even Sen. Lamar Alexander, while saying he would not vote for witnesses to testify, conceded House impeachment managers had presented an overwhelming case, one of the managers, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said Friday.
"It's disappointing," the New York Democrat told CNN's "New Day." "I think that Sen. Alexander has clearly indicated we have presented an overwhelming case to prove the guilt of Donald Trump as charged. The facts are largely uncontested and the president must be held accountable."
He added that most people who have been "reasonably" following the case will come to the conclusion that Trump "tried to cheat, got caught, and then worked hard to cover it up and should be held accountable."
Instead, he said he's concerned that the Senate's actions will mean Trump's abuse of power will be normalized.
"Are we going to normalize presidential abuse of power in the manner that Professor (Alan) Dershowitz suggested that we should? That would be problematic for the country... God help us all if we go down that path."
The Constitution, he added, demands that the accountability involves removal from office, said Jeffries to prove that the case deserves a fair trial, and that means witnesses and documents.
"A fair trial means evidence and for the first time in American history, the Senate may conclude it's going to conduct an impeachment trial in the absence of a single witness."
Friday afternoon, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, considered the last Republican holdout on the witness issue, said she'd vote against calling witnesses, virtually guaranteeing a tied vote that would result in no witnesses being called.
However, Jeffries said there remained a few senators "who haven't indicated one way or another where they stand on witnesses, particularly after revelations that have surfaced from former national security adviser John Bolton's upcoming manuscript.
"Hopefully there will be some senators who will come to the conclusion, at minimum, witnesses should be heard so that the truth can be presented to the American people," said Jeffries.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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