Trump impeachment: McConnell not ruling out calling witnesses

TIL Desk/World/Washington/ US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that Republicans “haven’t ruled out” calling witnesses in the upcoming impeachment trial to decide whether President Donald Trump should be convicted and removed. “We haven’t ruled out witnesses,” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said on Monday.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York, recently urged McConnell to call four witnesses, including Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former National Security Adviser John Bolton. That request was rejected by McConnell, who suggested a quick wrap-up of the trial to acquit Trump of the allegations contained in two articles of impeachment passed by the House last week.

Trump was impeached by the House for what the Democrats said was abusing his power in pressuring Ukraine to launch political investigations that would help with his re-election, and obstructing Congress’s impeachment inquiry by stonewalling subpoenaed administration officials as well as related documents. He became the third President in US history to be impeached.