The U.S. Senate is in what will probably be the final stage of the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump. The Senate is currently hearing arguments on whether witnesses should be called or if the Senate should proceed directly to a vote to remove the president from office. They are expected to vote on calling witnesses within the next few hours of Jan. 31.
The Democrats are arguing that in order to conduct a fair trial, witnesses must be called. Meanwhile, almost all Republican senators are calling for a quick end to the impeachment proceeding.
The vote on witnesses will be a close one, however, it is expected that the Republicans pushing for no witnesses will prevail. Two Republicans have stated that they will vote for witnesses, Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Senator Mitt Romney of Utah. However, if all the Democrats vote for calling witnesses, a third Republican is needed to tie and a fourth is needed for a majority. In the event of a tie, Chief Justice Roberts will be forced to decide between voting to break the tie or leaving the tie, effectively killing the motion for witnesses.
It is unlikely that more Republicans will vote across the aisle. The two other most likely swing votes, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee have already come out against the motion.
In the event that the motion passes, the impeachment proceedings will extend into the coming weeks. If the motion fails, a vote on acquittal should be expected in the following days.
People from across the country have been lined up since before noon to go into the Senate gallery and watch part of today’s impeachment proceedings. At the peak, 300+ people were waiting in line. Five hours later, the line has dwindled as people have been allowed in the gallery or have left to return to work. However, about 150 people remain, hoping to witness history.
