Former national security adviser John Bolton, who has been a central figure in Democrats' fight to hear from witnesses in the Senate trial, defended on Thursday Trump administration officials who testified as part of the House impeachment inquiry.

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Get Jonathan Bernstein’s newsletter every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe.With Senator Lamar Alexander's announcement Thursday night that he would vote against calling witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, it appears that the Senate will wrap things up quickly. The last remaining question seems to be whether the final votes to acquit will come Friday evening or later in the night. Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah say they are planning to vote for witnesses, and Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska remains undecided as I write this. But without Tennessee’s Alexander there aren’t enough votes to force the trial to continue.Alexander said he accepted that Trump was guilty of what he considered “inappropriate” actions, but that they didn’t rise to the level of removal and therefore there was no need to gather additional evidence. As such statements go, it could be worse. Alexander neither defied the obvious facts nor embraced some of the more extreme theories that the president’s lawyers embraced, theories that would in effect write impeachment and removal out of the U.S. Constitution. And his basic argument, that further evidence is unnecessary if he accepts the facts as laid out by the House managers prosecuting the case, is rational.His statement wasn’t exactly consistent throughout. In particular, there’s no logic to his rejection of conviction on the grounds that it is backed only by one political party, since Alexander himself could make support for removal at least a little bipartisan. More to the point, there’s never any possibility of anything but a broad (and almost certainly bipartisan) majority for removing a president, since 67 votes would be required in the Senate. It would make some sense for a House majority to back away from an impeachment because it only has partisan support; it makes no sense for a senator from the president’s party to vote against removing that president if it’s otherwise merited on the grounds that it’s just a partisan effort.That said, both the focus on witnesses and the focus on the four senators who have been the most likely to support calling them is misplaced. The real question is how senators will vote on removing the president from office, and the key senators haven’t been Alexander, Collins, Romney and Murkowski, or even the next-most-likely group of 10 or so. The key senators are the ones squarely in the middle of the Republican majority. They’re the ones who could have made removal a real possibility, and if some of them had taken Trump’s actions seriously then there’s little doubt that Alexander and the others would have joined them.At the end, Alexander and the others were casting symbolic votes only. That’s not to say that those who believe removal was fully justified should excuse Alexander’s choice, and yes, there could be some effects from somewhat different totals on the final votes to acquit. But it’s the other Republicans, especially those who have made it clear over the last few years that they consider Trump to be unfit for the office he holds, who are the real failures here.1\. Brendan Nyhan on Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and the general election. 2\. David B. Roberts at the Monkey Cage on the importance of the September attack on Saudi oil facilities. 3\. Fernando Tormos-Aponte on presidential primaries in Puerto Rico.4\. James Wallner on the history of impeachment and witnesses in Senate trials.5\. My Bloomberg Opinion colleague Noah Feldman on the preposterous claim that abuse of power is not legitimate grounds for impeachment: “The worst possible outcome for this impeachment process would be for Republicans to coalesce around the idea that Trump did everything he’s been accused of in the articles of impeachment, but had every right to do so under the Constitution.”6\. Errin Haines on California Senator Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.7\. And Lisa Desjardins with all the questions asked by all the senators.Get Early Returns every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe. Also subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, the Bloomberg Open and the Bloomberg Close.To contact the author of this story: Jonathan Bernstein at jbernstein62@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Landman at jlandman4@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University and wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

President Trump said he believes he'll get some Democrats voting for his acquittal as the Senate heads for a decisive vote in his impeachment trial.

"I have great confidence in Republican senators and probably some Democrats from what I understand," Mr. Trump told Fox News in an interview Thursday night ...

The Senate impeachment trial against President Donald Trump reached a crossroads that could either extend the trial for days or see a vote soon.

A former top Trump official has defended leading witnesses who have testified against the US president in his impeachment inquiry, according to local media.John Bolton reportedly said the ex-members of the Trump administration “acted in the best interest of the country as they saw it” as Democrats push to hear his own testimony.

Over two weeks, Chief Justice John Roberts has served as a careful steward of Senate procedures and ensured that the impeachment trial did not descend into nastiness or an outing of the whistleblower whose information months ago triggered this prosecution of President Donald Trump.

Another pivotal Republican announced opposition on Friday to calling witnesses in President Donald Trump's U.S. Senate impeachment trial, appearing to doom a bid by Democrats to permit testimony and paving the way for his expected acquittal. Senator Lisa Murkowski said she carefully considered the need for witnesses and documents in the trial that will determine whether Trump is removed from office, but ultimately decided against it. A vote on allowing witnesses, such as former national security adviser John Bolton, is due later in the day.

(Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every day? Sign up for the Balance of Power newsletter, and follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and Facebook for more.At 11 p.m., Britain’s bad-tempered 47-year marriage to the European Union will formally end.The man who helped engineer the divorce — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson — must now own it. It was the charismatic Johnson who transformed the fringe Brexit movement into an all-conquering referendum campaign back in 2016, upending the government and unleashing three years of unprecedented turmoil in Britain.It was Johnson who led the hardline resistance against former Premier Theresa May’s blueprint for a “deep and special partnership” with the EU’s single market and customs union. In the end, it was a Johnson-inspired revolt that triggered May’s downfall, opening the famous black door of Number 10 Downing Street for himself.Now he must deliver.That means more than just making Brexit work for the 17.4 million people who voted for it, though this will be hard enough as businesses reassess whether jobs need to move. Most challenging of all, he must somehow heal the wounds that Brexit has cut through the country.As the economic heart of the U.K., cosmopolitan London is an alien place to residents of depressed former industrial heartlands and forgotten towns on the English coast. And Scotland’s government is agitating for another independence referendum, with a new poll suggesting voters favor breaking away.With five years until another election is due, there’s plenty of time for Johnson’s Brexit project to go wrong.Global HeadlinesAcquittal near | The most consequential day in Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial is set to begin, with Republican leaders likely to muster enough votes to block witnesses and rapidly move to acquit the U.S. president. Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, who had been considered a potential supporter of further testimony, decided late yesterday to vote against new evidence.Trump could be cleared in time for his State of the Union address, which he’ll deliver Tuesday from the House chamber where Democrats adopted the impeachment articles six weeks ago.Worried world | The WHO labeled China’s coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency, saying it could further expand to other countries, hours after news of the first case of human-to-human transmission in the U.S. The number of confirmed cases in China has now passed 8,000, leading nations worldwide to take dramatic measures to stop the illness from spreading.Two-thirds of China’s economy will remain shut next week as provinces and cities extend the Lunar New Year holiday. Businesses around the globe that rely on Chinese tourists face an even bigger crisis than the 2003 SARS outbreak after China curbed outbound travel and governments tightened border controls. Mounting anxiety surrounding the epidemic has governments in Asia scrambling to tamp down social media falsehoods that may fuel fear and lead to a breakdown in security.Palestinians sidelined | Trump’s Middle East peace plan pleased Israel and angered the Palestinians. But as Sylvia Westall reports, the muted response in the rest of the Arab world revealed new dynamics in the region’s corridors of power that are eclipsing the century-old tussle over land, pushing some Gulf nations closer to Israel.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attacked leading Arab states for failing to criticize the Trump plan. All eyes on Iowa | The increasing likelihood that Bernie Sanders could win Monday’s first-in-the-nation caucus threatens to redraw the path to the Democratic presidential nomination. Candidates have traditionally sought to finish in at least the top three to seize some momentum for subsequent contests. But, as Gregory Korte and Jennifer Jacobs explain, there are reasons to question whether that thinking still applies.Back off | A senior U.S. State Department official threatened this month that European carmakers would be hit with tariffs unless the EU backed Trump’s hard line on Iran. But as Patrick Donahue and Ania Nussbaum explain, diplomats from Germany, France and the U.K. said such tactics were completely unacceptable and wouldn’t help the president achieve his goals.What to WatchU.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo sought to reassure Ukraine that it retains America’s unwavering support, calling it “a bulwark between freedom and authoritarianism” during a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv. The U.S. said yesterday that enemy-initiated attacks in Afghanistan reached their highest fourth-quarter number since a Pentagon watchdog began collecting data a decade ago, despite U.S.-Taliban peace talks. The White House is preparing to loosen rules on the U.S. military’s ability to use land mines, even after more than 150 countries signed a treaty banning them.Pop quiz, readers (no cheating!). Which European politician failed to score a knock-out blow in a regional vote to accelerate his rise to national power? Send us your answers and tell us how we’re doing or what we’re missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.And finally ... President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to close Nigeria’s borders with two neighboring countries in an effort to boost domestic rice production and thwart smuggling has been a bittersweet experience in the world’s second-biggest buyer of the white grain. While some farmers have capitalized on the elimination of cheap foreign competition, prices have soared for the Nigerian staple — used to make delicacies such as jollof rice — and consumers are complaining that some local grain is rotten or filled with stones. \--With assistance from Karen Leigh and Kathleen Hunter.To contact the author of this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Winfrey at mwinfrey@bloomberg.net, Karl MaierFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.