Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a key impeachment swing vote, announced Thursday that he will not join Democrats in voting to call witnesses in President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, suggesting that there may not be enough GOP votes for the trial to advance to that next stage.
“I worked with other senators to make sure that we have the right to ask for more documents and witnesses, but there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the U.S. Constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense,” he said.
Alexander, who’s retiring from Congress at the end of the year, was among a small group of Republican senators who had hinted during the trial they could vote to hear from witnesses who had first-hand knowledge of Trump’s conduct towards Ukraine.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, another Republican that Democrats were eyeing for support, said late Thursday that she would support calling witnesses, though.
“I believe hearing from certain witnesses would give each side the opportunity to more fully and fairly make their case, resolve any ambiguities, and provide additional clarity. Therefore, I will vote in support of the motion to allow witnesses and documents to be subpoenaed,” she said in a statement after the second day of senators’ questions wrapped up.
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Four Republicans will need to vote alongside all Democrats in order for new witness testimony to be admitted. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah were also considered to be top targets for Democrats who want to hear new witness testimony and documentary evidence at the Senate trial.
Alexander privately huddled with Murkowski during Thursday’s dinner break, according to a senior Republican aide close to Alexander. The two lawmakers discussed where they are on witnesses but were not coordinating their final decision, the aide tells NBC News
Murkowski said late Thursday that she had not made a decision. After Thursday’s session adjourned, she told reporters that “I am going to go reflect on what I have heard, re-read my notes and decide whether I need to hear more.”
Former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney are among the witnesses Democrats have called on to testify.
Alexander, who served two terms as governor of Tennessee before two unsuccessful runs for president, has a history of bipartisanship. He worked with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and a handful of other Democrats to make it easier for the Senate to confirm the presidential nominees.
As chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, The Tennessee Republican worked closely with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the committee’s ranking member, to make sweeping education reforms.
Alexander asked his first question during the Senate trial on Thursday, along with two other senators, in which he pressed the House managers to compare the bipartisanship in the Nixon, Clinton and Trump impeachment proceedings.
“Specifically how bipartisan was the vote in the House of Representatives to authorize and direct the House Committees to begin formal impeachment inquiries for each of the three presidents?” he asked, signaling possible frustration that the House vote against Trump was not bipartisan.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who was a House Judiciary Committee staffer during President Nixon’s impeachment proceedings and a member of the committee during both the Clinton and Trump impeachments, said neither were truly bipartisan.
“In the Nixon impeachment we look back and we think about the vote on the House Judiciary Committee that ended up bipartisan but it didn’t start that way,” she said. “When it came to the Clinton impeachment. That was, again, It started out along very partisan lines. And it ended along partisan lines.”
Frank Thorp V and Leigh Ann Caldwell contributed.