Romney: President's actions 'most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office'

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said Wednesday he will vote to convict President Donald Trump in the impeachment trial, becoming the only Republican to break with the president and his party.

"The grave question the Constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a 'high crime and misdemeanor,'" Romney said in a dramatic floor speech.

"Yes, he did," Romney said.

The move denies Trump the unanimous Republican support he had sought and is sure to invite an avalanche of attacks from the president and his allies.

While Romney said he would support the impeachment article charging Trump with abuse of power, he will vote against the second article charging Trump with obstruction of Congress. The Senate is set to acquit Trump of both charges during votes at 4:00 p.m.

Romney had previously expressed his deep dismay with Trump's bid to push Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, and he reiterated his concerns on the floor.

"The president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust. What he did was not perfect. No, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security and our fundamental values," Romney said. "Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine."

Romney has had an on-again, off-again relationship with Trump but remains the most frequent Republican critic of the president in Congress.

The 2012 GOP presidential nominee said he had received numerous calls and texts urging him to "stand with the team" on impeachment. And he noted that he had voted with Trump 80 percent of the time in the Senate.

"But my promise before God to apply impartial justice required that I put my personal feelings and political biases aside. Were I to ignore the evidence that has been presented and disregard what I believe my oath and the Constitution demands of me for the sake of a partisan end, it would, I fear, expose my character to history's rebuke and the censure of my own conscience."

Romney added that he's aware of the vitriol coming his way, but said he's prepared for it.

"I'm sure to hear abuse from the president and his supporters," he said. "Does anyone seriously believe that I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me?"

Republican Sen. Susan Collins announced on Tuesday afternoon that she would vote to acquit President Donald Trump on two articles of impeachment, despite her reservations about the president’s behavior.

The Maine moderate had earlier joined Democrats in their push to hear from more witnesses in the trial, namely former national security adviser John Bolton. But after that was rebuffed, she concluded she had to vote to acquit Trump.

"I do not believe the House has met its burden of showing that the president's conduct, however, flawed, warrants the extreme step of immediate removal from office,” Collins said of the abuse of power charge.

She also said that the House chose "speed over finality" in pursuing its evidence.

Collins is up for re-election this fall in a state that’s increasingly tilted Democrat and was in a no-win position. Though her decision to acquit will infuriate the state’s liberals, voting to convict would have provoked a sizable backlash from the state’s conservatives.

Collins also voted to acquit former President Bill Clinton in 1999 on two articles of impeachment.

There will be no witnesses. The House managers and White House counsel have rested their cases. And President Donald Trump is going to be acquitted on Wednesday. But there’s still drama left to the impeachment trial.

Five senators are up in the air on whether to convict or acquit the president on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Those votes won’t affect whether Trump is removed from office, but they will recast the reputations of these senators for years to come and help shape the battle for the White House in November.

For now, Republicans are feeling better about holding their members together to unanimously clear the president. On the Democratic side, there is less confidence everyone will stick together, with most in the party expecting at least one Democrat to defect.

But surprising things can happen in big moments. And everyone in the Capitol is beginning to game things out.

“If I had to bet, most likely yeah,” Republicans will stay united, said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). “The better question is how many of the Dems will vote to acquit? I’m going to say two out of the three” undecided Democrats.

“We’re all going to make our individual decisions based on the evidence presented,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). “At least the Democrats are very together on the need for witnesses. But I’m not going to castigate people that will make decisions that are different from mine.”

Murkowski on impeachment: 'The house failed in it's responsibilities'

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) became the first swing vote to come down, announcing she would vote to acquit Trump in a floor speech Monday.

Here's a look at five other senators who could break with their party on the two articles of impeachment. Their votes will determine whether Trump gets a bipartisan acquittal, a bipartisan condemnation — or, perhaps, both.

Mitt Romney

The Utah Republican led the drive to summon new witnesses on the Republican side, zeroing in on former national security adviser John Bolton. He’s also been the most consistent Republican chiding Trump for urging foreign countries to probe the Bidens, dubbing it “wrong and appalling.”

Romney is viewed by both parties as the most likely Republican to vote to convict Trump. But he's given nothing away publicly and has declined to telegraph his thinking on a vote that could separate him from his party for years to come or give Trump a major boost as he preaches GOP unity.

“I'm not going to comment at this stage,” he said on Monday afternoon as the impeachment trial came to an end. His only observation: The closing arguments were “not too long so that was nice.”

In some ways, Romney’s decision is less wrenching than others. He isn’t up for re-election until 2024, doesn’t need money for fundraising and presumably has no higher aspirations since he was the party’s presidential nominee in 2012. But his relationship with Trump is complex: He savaged Trump during the 2016 campaign, then interviewed for a Cabinet position with Trump and is now perhaps the toughest sitting GOP critic of the president’s behavior.

Still, Republicans think they’ll keep Romney on board.

“I do, yes,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). “Just my hunch."

Joe Manchin

Manchin on impeachment: 'I remain undecided on how I will vote'

The West Virginia moderate gave Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh his only Democratic vote in 2018 and is openly struggling with the impeachment articles facing Trump now.

Manchin is widely assumed by fellow Democrats to be the most likely defection given his state’s conservative politics and his acknowledgment last week that he might run for reelection in 2024.

After the trial wrapped, he was the only Democrat to shake the hand of the White House counsel — but he also shook hands with the House impeachment managers. He then gave a floor speech in which he called for the president’s censure but declined to say how he would vote Wednesday.

Manchin said he believes his censure resolution could get a bipartisan majority. But with most Republicans dug in defending the president, it’s unlikely to advance. Manchin called the looming vote on whether to remove Trump from office “the most difficult decision I’ll ever make” and that he would decide “when I walk in."

"I’m that torn," he said.

Susan Collins

Impeachment has been a uniquely trying episode for Collins, the Maine moderate who is up for reelection this fall. Collins didn’t support Trump in 2016, and her vote on Wednesday will be the first hint of how she will position herself next to Trump in 2020. The president is expected to eagerly campaign in Maine, which gave him one electoral vote in 2016.

She’s said repeatedly her decision on Trump’s removal will be made without politics, but whatever she does will have ramifications in November. A vote to convict would outrage the Republican base, while a vote to acquit would inflame Maine’s increasingly dominant Democratic Party. A former staffer, Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), voted for the impeachment article charging abuse of power but against the one on obstruction of Congress.

Collins often criticizes Trump’s inflammatory remarks, but has said fewer critical things about Trump’s Ukraine push than Romney. Still, she’s shown some willingness to buck Trump in the trial; she was the only Republican other than Romney to vote to hear new witnesses.

History suggests she may give the president a reprieve. Collins voted against removing Clinton from office, and the assumption now in her party is that she leans toward acquitting Trump as well.

Doug Jones

Collins may have a tough race, but easy compared with what Doug Jones has to face as a Democrat running for reelection in deep red Alabama. And he’s been struggling over how to come down on Trump’s impeachment articles.

“I’m getting there. I’m going through all of my notes. I’m going through everything,” Jones said ahead of the final debate in the trial.

Jones has singled out the second article, on obstruction, for scrutiny, saying he’s “troubled” the House didn’t fight harder to bring witnesses in that the administration had blocked. But he’s also criticized the White House defense team for concentrating on Hunter Biden’s job on the board of a Ukraine energy committee.

“It’s one thing to criticize the House managers for pulling a distraction, then you spend an hour and a half talking about the biggest distraction of the whole trial,” Jones said in an interview last week.

Jones has voted for some key Trump nominees, namely Attorney General William Barr, but is generally not as conservative as Manchin. That makes Democrats feel a little more confident about where he stands.

Kyrsten Sinema

While the other senators on this list have offered some degree of running commentary on their latest thinking, Sinema leaves everyone guessing. During the closing arguments she re-read her notes, underlined things she’d already written and then scribbled new notes.

During a break, she chatted with Collins and Murkowski and also spoke for a lengthy time with Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the Republican whip. Then she dipped into the Democratic cloakroom and greeted a Senate page: “Good morning, afternoon, whatever it is now.”

Sinema was the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Arizona in 30 years and has positioned herself as a conservative Democrat in the caucus. Still, she often votes with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on procedural votes. Notably, she joined the party’s quest for new witnesses and opposed the rules of the impeachment trial written by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-K.Y.).

But back home things are complicated. For months, the Arizona state party has been considering whether to reprimand her for leaning too far to the right. No matter how she votes, some will be angry.

Andrew Desiderio, Marianne LeVine and Melanie Zanona contributed to this report.

There will be no witnesses. The House managers and White House counsel have rested their cases. And President Donald Trump is going to be acquitted on Wednesday. But there’s still drama left to the impeachment trial.

Five senators are up in the air on whether to convict or acquit the president on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Those votes won’t affect whether Trump is removed from office, but they will recast the reputations of these senators for years to come and help shape the battle for the White House in November.

For now, Republicans are feeling better about holding their members together to unanimously clear the president. On the Democratic side, there is less confidence everyone will stick together, with most in the party expecting at least one Democrat to defect.

But surprising things can happen in big moments. And everyone in the Capitol is beginning to game things out.

“If I had to bet, most likely yeah,” Republicans will stay united, said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). “The better question is how many of the Dems will vote to acquit? I’m going to say two out of the three” undecided Democrats.

“We’re all going to make our individual decisions based on the evidence presented,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). “At least the Democrats are very together on the need for witnesses. But I’m not going to castigate people that will make decisions that are different from mine.”

Murkowski on impeachment: 'The house failed in it's responsibilities'

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) became the first swing vote to come down, announcing she would vote to acquit Trump in a floor speech Monday.

Here's a look at five other senators who could break with their party on the two articles of impeachment. Their votes will determine whether Trump gets a bipartisan acquittal, a bipartisan condemnation — or, perhaps, both.

Mitt Romney

The Utah Republican led the drive to summon new witnesses on the Republican side, zeroing in on former national security adviser John Bolton. He’s also been the most consistent Republican chiding Trump for urging foreign countries to probe the Bidens, dubbing it “wrong and appalling.”

Romney is viewed by both parties as the most likely Republican to vote to convict Trump. But he's given nothing away publicly and has declined to telegraph his thinking on a vote that could separate him from his party for years to come or give Trump a major boost as he preaches GOP unity.

“I'm not going to comment at this stage,” he said on Monday afternoon as the impeachment trial came to an end. His only observation: The closing arguments were “not too long so that was nice.”

In some ways, Romney’s decision is less wrenching than others. He isn’t up for re-election until 2024, doesn’t need money for fundraising and presumably has no higher aspirations since he was the party’s presidential nominee in 2012. But his relationship with Trump is complex: He savaged Trump during the 2016 campaign, then interviewed for a Cabinet position with Trump and is now perhaps the toughest sitting GOP critic of the president’s behavior.

Still, Republicans think they’ll keep Romney on board.

“I do, yes,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). “Just my hunch."

Joe Manchin

Manchin on impeachment: 'I remain undecided on how I will vote'

The West Virginia moderate gave Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh his only Democratic vote in 2018 and is openly struggling with the impeachment articles facing Trump now.

Manchin is widely assumed by fellow Democrats to be the most likely defection given his state’s conservative politics and his acknowledgment last week that he might run for reelection in 2024.

After the trial wrapped, he was the only Democrat to shake the hand of the White House counsel — but he also shook hands with the House impeachment managers. He then gave a floor speech in which he called for the president’s censure but declined to say how he would vote Wednesday.

Manchin said he believes his censure resolution could get a bipartisan majority. But with most Republicans dug in defending the president, it’s unlikely to advance. Manchin called the looming vote on whether to remove Trump from office “the most difficult decision I’ll ever make” and that he would decide “when I walk in."

"I’m that torn," he said.

Susan Collins

Impeachment has been a uniquely trying episode for Collins, the Maine moderate who is up for reelection this fall. Collins didn’t support Trump in 2016, and her vote on Wednesday will be the first hint of how she will position herself next to Trump in 2020. The president is expected to eagerly campaign in Maine, which gave him one electoral vote in 2016.

She’s said repeatedly her decision on Trump’s removal will be made without politics, but whatever she does will have ramifications in November. A vote to convict would outrage the Republican base, while a vote to acquit would inflame Maine’s increasingly dominant Democratic Party. A former staffer, Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), voted for the impeachment article charging abuse of power but against the one on obstruction of Congress.

Collins often criticizes Trump’s inflammatory remarks, but has said fewer critical things about Trump’s Ukraine push than Romney. Still, she’s shown some willingness to buck Trump in the trial; she was the only Republican other than Romney to vote to hear new witnesses.

History suggests she may give the president a reprieve. Collins voted against removing Clinton from office, and the assumption now in her party is that she leans toward acquitting Trump as well.

Doug Jones

Collins may have a tough race, but easy compared with what Doug Jones has to face as a Democrat running for reelection in deep red Alabama. And he’s been struggling over how to come down on Trump’s impeachment articles.

“I’m getting there. I’m going through all of my notes. I’m going through everything,” Jones said ahead of the final debate in the trial.

Jones has singled out the second article, on obstruction, for scrutiny, saying he’s “troubled” the House didn’t fight harder to bring witnesses in that the administration had blocked. But he’s also criticized the White House defense team for concentrating on Hunter Biden’s job on the board of a Ukraine energy committee.

“It’s one thing to criticize the House managers for pulling a distraction, then you spend an hour and a half talking about the biggest distraction of the whole trial,” Jones said in an interview last week.

Jones has voted for some key Trump nominees, namely Attorney General William Barr, but is generally not as conservative as Manchin. That makes Democrats feel a little more confident about where he stands.

Kyrsten Sinema

While the other senators on this list have offered some degree of running commentary on their latest thinking, Sinema leaves everyone guessing. During the closing arguments she re-read her notes, underlined things she’d already written and then scribbled new notes.

During a break, she chatted with Collins and Murkowski and also spoke for a lengthy time with Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the Republican whip. Then she dipped into the Democratic cloakroom and greeted a Senate page: “Good morning, afternoon, whatever it is now.”

Sinema was the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Arizona in 30 years and has positioned herself as a conservative Democrat in the caucus. Still, she often votes with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on procedural votes. Notably, she joined the party’s quest for new witnesses and opposed the rules of the impeachment trial written by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-K.Y.).

But back home things are complicated. For months, the Arizona state party has been considering whether to reprimand her for leaning too far to the right. No matter how she votes, some will be angry.

Andrew Desiderio, Marianne LeVine and Melanie Zanona contributed to this report.

Manchin on impeachment: 'I remain undecided on how I will vote'

Sen. Joe Manchin is floating the less severe punishment of censure of President Donald Trump’s conduct, although the West Virginia Democrat acknowledges it’s unlikely to go anywhere with the GOP.

In a floor speech on Monday, Manchin said he remains undecided on whether to vote to convict or acquit Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress and said “what the president did was wrong” in soliciting foreign intervention against Joe Biden and delaying Ukraine aid.

But Manchin also said that with no path to 67 votes for removing Trump from office, a bipartisan rebuke would be more effective than a partisan vote.

“I do believe a bipartisan majority of this body would vote to censure President Trump for his action in this matter. Censure would allow this body to unite across party lines,” Manchin said. “Censure would allow a bipartisan statement condemning his unacceptable behavior in the strongest terms.”

Afterward in an interview, Manchin said he’s been talking to Senate Republicans and “trying for a while” to generate support for censure. But he acknowledged that the GOP won’t go for it.

“They’ve shut it down I guess, as I understand it,” Manchin said. “It’s a shame.”

A trio of moderate Senate Democrats is wrestling with whether to vote to convict Donald Trump in his impeachment trial — or give the president the bipartisan acquittal he’s eagerly seeking.

Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Doug Jones of Alabama are undecided on whether to vote to remove the president from office and agonizing over where to land. It’s a decision that could have major ramifications for each senator’s legacy and political prospects — as well shape the broader political dynamic surrounding impeachment heading into the 2020 election.

All three senators remain undecided after hearing arguments from the impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team. But they could end up with a creative solution.

One or more senators may end up splitting their votes, borrowing a move from Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), who voted for the abuse of power charge but against the one on obstruction of Congress.

Manchin said he will do that only if he “can explain one and not the other.” Jones has been mildly critical of the obstruction impeachment article and says he’s “troubled” the House didn’t fight harder to hear from critical administration witnesses.

Manchin insisted Tuesday he hasn’t figured out where he will come down. And won’t until the trial ends.

“I know it’s hard to believe that. But I really am [undecided]. But I have not made a final decision. Every day, I hear something, I think ‘this is compelling, that’s compelling,’” Manchin said in an interview. “Everyone’s struggling a little bit.”

Many in the Capitol believed Manchin had run his last campaign in 2018, freeing him to vote however he wants. He insisted he still will, but also didn’t rule out running for the Senate again in 2024: “I have no idea. I swear to God. buddy. I don’t.”

However, the most immediate pressure is on Jones, an unlikely Democratic senator from the Deep South fighting for his political life this fall with no good options: Republicans will batter him if he votes to convict the president, Democrats will rebel if he votes to acquit. In his front office on Tuesday, his phone rang repeatedly as aides answered questions about impeachment witnesses.

Jones said he hears both from Trump voters and those who loathe the president, but admitted that he hears more from people who support Trump. And he indicated he’s beginning to reach a decision-making end game, though potential consideration of new evidence could scramble any conclusions he’d reached as of Tuesday.

“I don’t think I’ve totally decided. I certainly have [been] leaning one way or the other. That needle moves” depending on the day’s testimony, Jones said in an interview. “I am leaning in certain ways but I want to hear, I truly, honestly, want to hear the entire trial.”

Compared with the chatty Manchin and Jones, Sinema’s stance is a bit of a mystery.

Like those two Democrats, she has occasionally broken with her party, including by supporting the confirmation of Attorney General William Barr in 2019, a vote that demonstrated largely where the fault lines in the Democratic Caucus currently lie. She supported Democrats’ votes for new evidence last week to “make a more fully informed decision at the end of the trial,” a spokesman said, and is undecided during the impeachment trial.

Sinema has made no comments since the trial began. She’s close with many Republicans, and some Democrats privately believe that like Manchin, she leans toward Trump more than Jones does. Still, with no public comments it’s almost impossible to tell where she will land.

There’s no chatter in the caucus about anyone other than Jones, Sinema or Manchin possibly voting to acquit the president on one or both counts, although a number of other Democratic senators say they are still undecided. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana is one and said he’s “absolutely open to being swayed.” Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the only other Democrat up in a Trump-held state this year other than Jones, also said he is undecided.

“I think you are seeing moderate Democrats taking the time to talk with their constituents, and in red states that means Trump voters, to hear their concerns and explain the gravity of the charges and need for witnesses and evidence,” said Jon Kott, a former Manchin aide who now runs a centrist advocacy group called Majority Makers. “I don’t think you’ll see any of them make up their minds until the trial is over.”

The Republican side of potential aisle-crossers is equally scarce on a final verdict. Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have been pushing to hear from witnesses and seem to be the only three Republicans who are considering bucking the president, but it’s not clear they’d ultimately vote to convict him .

The small number of wild cards mingled Tuesday on the Senate floor. In a break before the Trump team’s final arguments, Sinema and Manchin huddled for a few minutes and then walked out of the Senate together. After Trump’s defense finished, Manchin spoke to Murkowski and Collins for a few minutes; Sinema spoke to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), an undecided vote on witnesses.

Breaking with party leaders is becoming increasingly rare on big questions like impeachment and critical confirmation fights.

In the House, there were three divergent Democratic votes on impeachment: Golden’s split, a “present” vote from presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson’s rejection of both articles. Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey switched to the GOP after opposing impeachment as a Democrat while Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan went from Republican to independent and supported the impeachment articles.

A trio of Senate Democrats partially or completely voting to clear Trump of the two charges would be a win for Trump, who has crowed repeatedly about the bipartisan vote to reject the charges in the House.

“My largest, my biggest fear, and what I say to almost every Republican about this, is: If we all vote to acquit, Trump is going to get worse. He’s going to gloat. He’s going to be vengeful. That’s the way he thinks about the world and whatever he’s doing, he’s going to do more of it,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who won reelection in 2018 in a state that Trump won.

In the 1999 Senate trial votes, no Democrats supported removing President Bill Clinton from office, but five Republicans rejected the obstruction of justice charge and 10 opposed the perjury charge. That number of aisle-crossers seems exceedingly unlikely, but in today’s Washington, Republicans would be overjoyed to get any bipartisan support for clearing Trump.

“I think there will be a couple who may vote not to convict Trump,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). “I’m guessing there’s an 80 percent chance that two Democrats will not vote to convict.”

Democratic senators say there’s been little discussion of the potential divisions within the party over Trump’s behavior. The party whip, Dick Durbin of Illinois, gestured to Manchin when asked if he’s worried about defections: “I don’t know. Ask somebody else.”

“I haven’t queried people. This is something you have to live with historically, yourself,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the No. 3 Democratic leader. “It’s important to have people come to their own conclusions.”

During the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in fall 2018, Democrats in tough races said they were pushing politics aside and making the decision on the merits. Only Manchin voted to confirm him, winning reelection narrowly a few weeks later.

And there’s still a variable at hand. All Senate Democrats have been pushing for a vote to hear from witnesses like former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Jones said hearing from witnesses could make his mind “change in every number of directions.”

As for Manchin, he says he can’t vote for anything he can’t explain to West Virginians. He suggested that if Republicans reject the bid to add new evidence, it might be hard for him to explain: “I don’t know how you can call it a trial.”

He also broke pointedly with Trump’s description of his call with Ukraine President Volodymr Zelensky, in which Trump pushed for an investigation into Joe Biden: “Make no mistake about it. It was not a perfect call.”

Melanie Zanona contributed to this report.

If the Senate decides to consider new impeachment trial witnesses and documents next week, Sen. Josh Hawley plans to try and force votes on everyone from Adam Schiff to Joe Biden.

The Missouri Republican is preparing to file subpoena requests for witnesses and documents that Democrats and Republicans alike won't want to vote on. Hawley's strategy harmonizes with plans from GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky to force votes to hear from Hunter Biden, the former vice president's son who was on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

Their tactics are intended to convince a handful of senators to sink a vote next week to consider new evidence in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial. Trump’s attempt to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens is at the heart of the impeachment case against the president.

If the witness vote succeeds, Hawley aims to force votes on subpoenas for House Intelligence Chairman Schiff (D-Calif.), Vice President Biden, Hunter Biden, Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, the still-unnamed whistleblower who reported Trump's July call with the Ukrainian president and a reported acquaintance of the whistleblower's.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone hinted at a Schiff subpoena during testimony before the Senate on Saturday by noting he didn’t appear before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on impeachment.

Democrats already forced votes to subpoena acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, former national security adviser John Bolton, and documents related to the administration's decision-making on aid to Ukraine earlier this week, all of which failed on party lines. Democrats say that the Bidens aren't relevant to the investigation.

Hawley would also seek communications among the whistleblower, Schiff and his staff, transcripts of Atkinson's congressional testimony, communications between the House impeachment managers and Democratic presidential candidates as well as documents related to Biden's drive to oust former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin. Shokin was deeply unpopular with Western officials, who viewed him as corrupt.

There’s no evidence Biden used his position as vice president to benefit his son's work with Burisma.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said this week he'd rather request an outside counsel investigation in the Bidens than see Congress subpoena them.

A simple majority would be required to consider new evidence next week, but most Republicans oppose the measure and Democrats are currently short the four Republicans they need to win the vote. Several Republican senators are undecided.

Likewise, 51 senators would be required to win votes on issuing subpoenas for additional documents and witnesses.

Schiff cites supposed threat to GOP senators during closing remarks

Rep. Adam Schiff read aloud an anonymous quote about what would happen to Republican senators if they voted against President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial. It did not land well.

The California Congressman, in ending the Democrats' three-day opening salvo, was discussing the internal politics each senator must face as they consider their votes. Then he read the quote from a CBS story: That a Trump ally said "GOP senators were warned ... 'vote against the president and your head will be on a pike.'"

Several Republican senator murmured "not true" as soon as Schiff said it. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) shook her head and said "not true" several times. Schiff quickly tried to recover.

"I don't know if that's true. But when I read that, I was struck by the irony," Schiff said. "I hope it's not true. I hope it's not true."

Lindsey Graham vehemently opposes calling in the Bidens as witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial — but he’s signaling to the president and conservatives that there are other ways to probe Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

Over the past day, the South Carolina Republican has stepped up his calls for an outside investigator to examine Hunter Biden’s role on the board at Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. And in turn, he’s made clear he does not believe the Senate should open the door on witnesses, a messy debate that could extend the Senate trial for weeks and call in everyone from the Bidens to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

“To my Democratic friends, I stood with you when you called for an outside entity to look into President Trump. I’m asking you to allow somebody outside of politics to look at what happened with the Bidens,” Graham said Friday in a break of the impeachment proceedings. “The best thing to do is end this trial with no witnesses and have Congress do oversight regarding what happened in the Ukraine in a professional way, and I would prefer outside counsel.”

Trump has repeatedly mused about wanting more witnesses in his trial, including this week — talk that Graham is seeking to tamp down. Graham has repeatedly said he will not support subpoenas for Hunter or Joe Biden in the Senate trial.

What Graham is proposing would essentially mimic what Trump asked Ukraine to do, only on domestic soil: Announce an investigation into Joe Biden as he runs for the nomination to defeat the president. Graham said the reason he didn’t want to look into the Bidens before the heat of the election because he “hadn’t really been following it” in previous year.

“I like Joe Biden. No I don’t think he’s corrupt. But I think he has to answer for how he allowed his son and the country to get in this spot,” Graham said. “I love Joe Biden. I don’t want to do this.”

It’s a clear indication to the president and his allies that he empathizes with them over targeting the Bidens for what he calls a “clear conflict of interest” when former Vice President Joe Biden presided over anti-corruption efforts while his son was on the board of Burisma.

Trump’s attempt to pressure Ukraine’s president to investigate the Bidens is at the heart of the impeachment case against the president. The two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — directly relate to Trump’s alleged attempt to press for a probe into his political rivals in exchange for millions in withheld military aid and a coveted White House visit for Ukrainian officials.

There is no evidence that Joe Biden did anything improper to get his son on the board. Biden urged Ukraine to fire its lead anti-corruption prosecutor, but at the time probes into Burisma had stalled.

Nonetheless, Graham is undeterred.

“I supported [Robert] Mueller looking into all things Trump because I think the country needed someone outside politics to resolve the allegations against the president,” Graham told reporters on Friday afternoon. “Nobody has done an investigation anywhere near the Mueller investigation against the Bidens. And I think they should. And when this is over, the Congress will do it if we can’t have an outside entity. I think it’s very important to find out what happened.”

Sen. Susan Collins was “stunned” by Rep. Jerry Nadler’s late-night diatribe this week against what he deemed a “cover-up” by Senate Republicans for President Donald Trump — so much so that she wrote a note to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. But the Maine Republican said it will not affect her votes during the Senate’s impeachment trial.

In an interview on Thursday, Collins confirmed that she had jotted down a note that eventually made its way to Roberts via Secretary for the Majority Laura Dove. Collins said she believed the back and forth between House Judiciary Chairman Nadler (D-N.Y.) and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone violated Senate rules and felt compelled to point that out, even though senators are required to stay at their desks and not speak during the trial.

“It reminded me that if we were in a normal debate in the Senate, that the rule would be invoked to strike the words of the senator for impugning another senator. So I did write a note raising the issue of whether there’d been a violation of the rules,” Collins said. “I gave that note to Laura Dove and shortly thereafter the chief justice did admonish both sides. And I was glad that he did.”

CNN first reported Collins wrote Roberts a note, though she did not previously confirm it to reporters.

Chief Justice scolds House managers and WH counsel following an exchange of insults

Nadler has been the target of harsh Republican criticism. But Collins said the midnight exchange came when “everyone was getting very tired” and that it wouldn’t affect how she votes on whether to call witnesses next week or her overall view of the case.

“I’m going to cast my vote regardless of the congressman’s performance,” Collins said. “His negative comments about the Senate will not have any impact.”

She said she’s also still likely to support having a debate on witnesses given her lingering questions about the impeachment trial, which centers on Trump’s request for a Ukrainian investigation into Joe Biden and a freeze in aid to Ukraine. She said she’s filled up 25 pages of her notepad in the first two days of the trial, many of which are queries she wants answered during the Senate’s 16-hour question-and-answer period next week.

“I already have a list of questions in the margin of the extensive notepad that I’ve been filling up every day of questions that I’d like to know the answers to. Now, maybe they’ll all be answered,” she said. “But I would doubt that.”