The U.S. Senate will cast their final vote on Donald Trump's impeachment on February 5. On Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell laid out the final phase of the trial. Closing arguments were scheduled on Monday in time for Friday's final voting.
Key Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski and Lamar Alexander, voted having witnesses against Trump to be heard in court. The two also voted against seeking new evidence against the president to be presented further in court. The final vote tally was 51 no and 49 yes.
They may have voted on different issues Friday but the consensus almost indicates an acquittal for Trump since these are the same officials who will be casting votes on February 5 at 4 pm.
Even the scheduled casting of final votes on February 5 seemed to favor Trump because it was after both the Iowa caucuses have already begun. Trump will be on the Republican ballot. The final casting was also scheduled after the State of the Union where the controversial president will deliver his address.
The Republican senators seemed to have everything planned out. Senior members of the party pushed for Trump's right for a speedy trial. For that to happen, there should be no witnesses or no new evidence.
Most importantly, the move canceled out any opportunity for former National Security Adviser John Bolton to stand in court.
Bolton claims he has direct knowledge of how Trump wanted to withhold military aid from Ukraine unless the latter paints Joe Biden in a bad light. This issue is central to why Trump is facing impeachment trials in the first place. Trump is accused of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress because of his alleged machination involving Ukraine.
Bolton has written a book detailing the accusation. One of his boldest claims is that White House counsel Pat Cipollone could actually stand as a witness against Trump. Cipollone is leading Trump's defense team against the impeachment. The book remains unpublished.
In his book, Bolton said Trump pressured Ukraine to agree in a meeting which resulted in the July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This call was what sparked the impeachment inquiry.
If Trump gets acquitted, it establishes a new precedent that seats on a grey area Constitution, wise. Moving forward, it will be acceptable for any president to use his office and US foreign policy to skew favorable results for him to the detriment of his political rival - most especially, that Trump argued that it was only normal for a nation's leader to ask for help from a another nation he viewed as a friend. Trump argued that he had asked for help from China just the same.
