An anti-Trump group of Republicans will be running an ad campaign calling for witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial starting Thursday morning.Republicans for the Rule of Law have funded three ads that will air dozens of times in the D.C. area...

Senator Cory Gardner (R., Colo.) said in a statement Wednesday that he does “not believe” additional witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial are necessary, casting doubt on a Tuesday claim that at least four Republicans were willing to call additional witnesses.“I do not believe we need to hear from an 18th witness," the Colorado Republican told Colorado Politics in a statement. "I have approached every aspect of this grave constitutional duty with the respect and attention required by law, and have reached this decision after carefully weighing the House managers and defense arguments and closely reviewing the evidence from the House, which included well over 100 hours of testimony from 17 witnesses.”Gardner’s public stance comes after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) told his caucus that at least four Republicans wanted testimony from more witnesses. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, with 51 votes needed to call more witnesses.Senators Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski all expressed interest in hearing from former national security adviser John Bolton, following a report that Bolton heard Trump link Ukrainian investigations to U.S. military aid.“I think it’s increasingly likely that other Republicans will join those of us who think we should hear from John Bolton,” Romney told reporters Monday. “I have spoken with others who have opined upon this.”Other Senate Republicans, including Lindsey Graham and Josh Hawley, responded by suggesting Hunter Biden or the Ukraine whistleblower could be called as Trump’s preferred witnesses.Before the Bolton news, GOP sources in the Senate said last week that the Democrats’ efforts to convince Republicans of the need for witnesses were unlikely to prove successful.

Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, who is up for reelection this year, told a home-state news outlet that he does not want additional witnesses to be included in the Senate impeachment trial.

More than half of Americans said they are “increasingly convinced” that President Trump committed some wrongdoing in his dealing with Ukraine, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday, amid Trump's ongoing impeachment trial....

"If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment."

(Bloomberg) -- Senate Democrats are making a final run at persuading at least a few GOP senators to call witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial as lawmakers grilled the defense team and House prosecutors in an attempt to shape the debate for a showdown vote later this week.That next phase of the trial got under way Wednesday amid doubt about the outcome of a vote to subpoena former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton or others -- including former Vice President Joe Biden’s son and the unnamed whistle-blower who’s complaint launched the impeachment case.”Don’t wait for the book,” lead House impeachment manager Adam Schiff said, referring to leaked revelations in Bolton’s manuscript that would bolster the Democrats’ case. “Don’t wait until March 17 when it is in black and white to find out the answer to your question.”Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is working behind the scenes to keep Republicans in line to reject a drive by Democrats to call witnesses in a pivotal vote as soon as that could come as soon as Friday. Defeating that motion would lead to a quick wrap-up of the trial before Trump’s State of the Union address next Tuesday.That outcome was thrown into question by the bombshell disclosure that Bolton wrote in a still-unpublished book that the president directly linked giving aid to Ukraine to getting the country’s new president to announce a probe of Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.Question of MotivesDemocrats argued Trump’s motive was to help himself politically by tarnishing a serious challenger to his re-election.Trumps defense lawyers sought to dismiss that allegation by arguing it doesn’t matter. Law professor Alan Dershowitz asserted that a president’s power is expansive and he can’t be impeached for taking actions that are partly motivated by a desire to help his political prospects.“Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest,” Dershowitz said in response to a question from Republican Senator Ted Cruz. “And if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”Any testimony by Bolton is unlikely to change the outcome of the trail -- Trump’s acquittal. But calling witnesses would extend the proceedings and be potentially politically damaging to Trump and Senate Republicans.McConnell told his colleagues at a hastily called meeting of GOP senators on Tuesday afternoon that there weren’t yet 51 firm Republican votes to block calling witnesses, according a GOP aide. But senior Republicans were publicly more confident on Wednesday that the trial would soon end.Pressure CampaignUnder increased pressure from McConnell and the White House, the pool of potential Republican votes for fresh evidence continued to narrow. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican facing a tough re-election fight in November, said he’ll vote against witnesses. Another GOP holdout, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, said he’s “very, very unlikely” to back subpoenas.Some Trump loyalists were blunt.“After watching the House cobble together a flimsy case and listening to all of the arguments from both sides, I do not believe we need additional testimony to prolong this trial,” Senator Mike Braun, an Indiana Republican, said in a statement.Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said it’s “an uphill fight” to get the votes for calling witnesses “because the president and Mitch McConnell put huge pressure on these folks.” Still, he said, Democrats have a “decent” chance to win the fight.Three GOP senators -- Susan Collins, Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski -- have expressed interest in hearing from Bolton, and they’re being intensely lobbied by both sides, as are several others who haven’t committed one way or the other.Crucial InformationRomney said Wednesday that Bolton is a crucial witness in deciding the impeachment case.“I have a great deal of confidence in John Bolton,” Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, told reporters. He said Bolton could answer key questions such as what explanation Trump gave advisers when he decided to delay military aid for Ukraine, and even whether the “president himself” told them the aid was held “in order to encourage them to investigate the Bidens.”After she left a meeting with McConnell Wednesday morning, Murkowski refused to discuss her latest thinking with reporters.The first question in Wednesday’s session came from Collins, co-signed by Murkowski and Romney, asking Trump’s counsel how they should consider various motives by Trump for his actions. As Collins rose to ask their question, other senators paid keen attention.Trump lawyer Patrick Philbin answered that if there are mixed motives, for both policy and political reasons, “their case fails and you can’t possibly have impeachment.”Many of the questions asked by senators in both parties seemed geared toward giving either side a rebuttal opportunity. Schumer asked House Democratic prosecutors whether there is a way to render a fair judgment without hearing from Bolton, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and others.Schiff said there is no way for the trial to be fair without witnesses, and said senators should hear from Bolton himself to determine whether he knows of Trump’s real motives.The White House kept up its own pressure campaign to end the trial quickly without Bolton’s testimony. Trump unleashed a series of tweets denigrating Bolton and warning Republicans against voting for witnesses, writing, “Don’t let the Dems play you!”The National Security Council also wrote to Bolton’s lawyer last week saying that his book manuscript “appears to contain significant amounts of classified information” and can’t be published unless that material is deleted. The letter was obtained on Wednesday.Schumer blasted some Republicans who say they don’t want witnesses because it won’t change the outcome.“A fair trial matters whatever the outcome,” Schumer said.On Wednesday, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin became the first Democrat to break ranks and say he would vote to call Hunter Biden as a witness if U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial, deems him pertinent to the case. “I want to hear everything I can,” Manchin told MSNBC.Manchin is one of three Democrats who are being closely watched for indications they would vote to acquit Trump. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat, and Alabama Democrat Doug Jones also haven’t indicated whether they think Trump is guilty of the House’s two articles of impeachment.“I’m going to see how it ends up and judge the evidence I have before me,” said Jones, who faces voters in November in a heavily Republican state.The impeachment charges alleged that Trump wanted Ukraine to initiate an investigation of Biden, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, and his son to help with the president’s re-election campaign.Despite the lingering uncertainty on witnesses, South Dakota Republican Senator John Thune expressed confidence that the trial would get wrapped up quickly. He said Wednesday that GOP leaders will know where Republican votes are on the matter of more witnesses well before the tally is taken.The key votes will be held Friday, first on whether to allow witness testimony and then to select witnesses. A simple majority of 51 senators will decide. Even if witnesses are called, no Republican has suggested Trump’s eventual acquittal is in question. It would take 67 votes to convict Trump and remove him from office. Multiple GOP senators have said that even if Bolton’s account is true it isn’t enough to convict.(Updates with remarks by Schiff, Dershowitz, senators beginning in third paragraph. An earlier version corrected the name of the Trump lawyer responding to questions.)\--With assistance from Erik Wasson, Daniel Flatley, Mike Dorning and Laura Davison.To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net;Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net;Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.netFor 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.

One of Donald Trump's plucked-from-television impeachment lawyers argued every action taken by a sitting president is in the interests of the country – even if carried out mostly to win re-election."If the president does something that he thinks will help him get elected, in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment," Alan Dershowitz, a celebrity Harvard University professor, told senators.