Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced Monday she will vote to acquit President Trump on both articles of impeachment this week, dashing hopes of Democrats who had thought the moderate Republican might join them in their uphill bid to oust the president before the 2020 election.
The Alaska senator scolded Mr. Trump for his behavior but also said the House bungled the case against him, and it became clear he couldn’t get a fair trial in the Senate. She said she wished the House would have pursued censure instead.
But she said with some voters already having cast ballots for Mr. Trump in the presidential primaries, it’s now in their hands.
“I cannot vote to convict,” she said. “The voters will pronounce a verdict in nine months and we must trust their judgment.”
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, considered the most likely Democrat to side with Mr. Trump, said Monday he still has not decided how he will vote Wednesday afternoon. But he also said he wished Congress would have tried to censure the president, saying his dealings with Ukraine were not “perfect,” as Mr. Trump has insisted.
Mr. Manchin said he sees a bipartisan majority who would back censure, but impeachment will fail.
“I see no path to the 67 votes required,” the West Virginia senator said.
Watching their chances slip away, House Democrats made a last-ditch appeal Monday to senators, saying the only way to constrain Mr. Trump is to vote to convict him on both articles of impeachment.
With his contempt for Mr. Trump infusing his words, Rep. Adam B. Schiff, the top impeachment prosecutor, said the president lacks character, has broken every boundary of decency and has “betrayed” the country, subverting national security to his political whims.
“You can’t trust this president to do the right thing. Not for one minute, not for one election, not for the sake of our country. You just can’t. He will not change, and you know it,” Mr. Schiff said as he glared at Republican senators.
The California Democrat closed out two weeks of arguments over Mr. Trump’s fate with little hope of conviction. It’s more likely the president will be acquitted by bipartisan majorities on both articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstructing Congress.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers said that was the only fair outcome to a process that has been tainted from the start.
The president’s team said Democrats’ targeting of Mr. Trump began well before last summer’s phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, and they played a video montage of Democrats vowing impeachment in January 2017, even before the president was inaugurated.
“End the era of impeachment once and for all,” said White House Counsel Pat Cipollone.
He told senators to leave judgment of Mr. Trump to voters, who began to have their say Monday as the Iowa caucuses kicked off the campaign season.
“He is eager to go before the American people in this upcoming election,” Mr. Cipollone said.
“That’s where our founders put the power. That is where it belongs. I urge you on behalf of every American, on behalf of all of your constituents, to reject these articles of impeachment. It is the right thing for our country.”
With closing arguments over, senators have two days to ponder their votes ahead of Wednesday afternoon’s final action.
House Democrats voted to impeach Mr. Trump Dec. 18 on two articles.
The first accuses him of abuse of power stemming from the July phone call with the Ukrainian president when Mr. Trump requested a corruption probe into a political rival, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, and Democrats’ activities in 2016, while withholding financial aid to Ukraine.
A second article accuses the president of obstruction of Congress for claiming immunity from the House’s probe and blocking witnesses and documents Democrats sought.
No Republicans voted for the articles in the House, marking the first time the impeachment of a president happened on a purely partisan basis.
The president’s allies have argued that Mr. Trump had the authority to request a probe into possible corruption, saying Mr. Biden’s son Hunter sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, receiving about $50,000 a month from Burisma, though he lacked expertise in the industry.
Democrats say Mr. Trump abused his position and that there’s no basis to question the Bidens’ behavior.
During the House impeachment inquiry, Democrats picked the witnesses to be called and blocked the president’s team from calling its own witnesses or cross-examining the Democrats’ choices.
No witnesses testified that he or she heard the president condition aid on Ukraine investigating the Bidens, but several said they believed it to be the case based on circumstantial evidence.
Democrats said those in the know, such as former National Security Adviser John R. Bolton and acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, rebuffed attempts to get them to appear.
Mr. Bolton has since said he would testify to the Senate and has written a book that reportedly says he was asked by the president to help facilitate a meeting between Ukrainian officials and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who was allegedly part of the pressure campaign to start corruption investigations in Ukraine focused on the Bidens.
But senators voted last week to shut down the trial without hearing witnesses.
Two Republicans, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, joined Democrats in their call to hear witnesses and subpoena more evidence. They have not said how they will vote on Wednesday.
Senators will have all day Tuesday to make remarks on the chamber floor about the impeachment proceedings, and will cast their final vote on whether to acquit Mr. Trump the following afternoon.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump will deliver the State of the Union address Tuesday night with the pending acquittal vote less than 24 hours away.
Democrats on Monday pivoted away from arguments over documents and witnesses and said the country’s national security and fairness of the 2020 presidential election is at stake should Mr. Trump be left in office.
“Your duty demands you convict President Trump,” said Rep. Jason Crow, Colorado Democrat. “In America, no one is above the law — even those elected president of the United States.”
Mr. Schiff said there is a “100%” chance the president will “continue trying to cheat in the election until he succeeds.”
The impeachment charges arose after a whistleblower complaint surfaced in August about Mr. Trump’s July phone call with Mr. Zelensky, asserting there was a quid pro quo in requesting the corruption probe while withholding the military aid.
The president’s supporters charge that the whistleblower was part of a scheme to take down the president and the complaint was coordinated by Mr. Schiff, chairman of the House intelligence committee.
Mr. Schiff denies any direct communication with the whistleblower.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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