Battles lines harden over Trump impeachment trial witnesses

Record ID: 1449775

  • Title: Battles lines harden over Trump impeachment trial witnesses
  • Date: 22nd December 2019
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (FILE) (REUTERS) SHOTS OF THE U.S. CAPITOL BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 5th January 2020 18:49
  • Keywords: Chuck Schumer Marc Short Pentagon aid to Ukraine Senate’s top Democrat Trump White House budget official Michael Duffey chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence impeachment
  • Location: WASHINGTON, D.C. + NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES
  • City: WASHINGTON, D.C. + NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001BB254JR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The White House on Sunday (December 22) signaled comfort with plans by Senate Republicans to avoid new witnesses in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, while a top Democrat seized on a newly released email on the withholding of U.S. aid to Ukraine to press his case for testimony.
    The Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, told reporters in New York that an email made public on Saturday about military assistance to Kiev underscored the need for witnesses.
    The email, obtained by the Center for Public Integrity through a court order in a Freedom of Information Act case, showed senior White House budget official Michael Duffey directing the Pentagon to withhold the aid just 91 minutes after Trump concluded a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
    The aid and the call are at the heart of the impeachment case put together by Democrats, and Duffey is one of the four witnesses Schumer has proposed calling.
    In remarks on Sunday talk shows, Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, indicated the White House was on board with McConnell's goal of a speedy trial.
    "The American people are tired of this sham," Short said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
    (Production: Mana Rabiee)
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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