Despite losing a key vote on including witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, lead prosecutor, said his team succeeded in making the case to the upper chamber and the public.
“Look, there’s nothing that I can see that we could have done differently, because as the senators have already admitted, we’ve proved our case. We proved our case,” Mr. Schiff, California Democrat, said on CBS “Face the Nation.”
He pointed out that a handful of Republicans, like Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, believe the facts as Democrats laid out, even if they decided to side with the president.
Other Republicans, like Sen. Lisa Murkowski, another key vote Democrats were hoping to sway to their side, argued that House Democrats delivered “rushed and flawed” articles of impeachment.
In December, the House voted to impeach President Trump on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges stemming from allegations that he, along with a handful of senior administration members and lawyer Rudy Giuliani, pressured Ukraine into opening investigations into his political rival Joesph R. Biden.
The vote fell along stark party lines, with two Democratic lawmakers siding with Republicans.
Mr. Schiff rejected Ms. Murkowski’s comments.
“They’re not mere spectators here,” he said of the Alaskan senator and her colleagues.
The president’s legal team criticized the Democrats’ case in particular for not pursuing subpoenas for key witnesses like former National Security Adviser John Bolton while calling for his testimony in the Senate.
With acquittal all but inevitable, House Democrats are already shifting their messaging, looking to bolster the impeachment from their chamber and undermine the trial’s conclusion.
“I still think it’s enormously important that the president was impeached because the country is moving away from its democratic ideals,” Mr. Schiff said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week went even further and sought to question the legitimacy of the looming decision.
“You cannot be acquitted if you don’t have a trial. You don’t have a trial if you don’t have witnesses and documentation and all of that,” the California Democrat said.
Senators will take their final vote Wednesday, the day after Mr. Trump delivers his State of the Union address.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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