Democratic impeachment manager: Trump trial could have lasted years if witnesses were called

One of the Democratic House lawmakers who served as an impeachment manager for former President Trump’s second Senate trial said on Sunday that the proceedings could have lasted for years if witnesses were called and fought subpoenas. 

Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) pointed to ongoing legal battles over potential testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn, which House Democrats have been seeking for more than a year, as evidence that the impeachment trial could have been unreasonably delayed by efforts to force witnesses to testify.  

“It was very clear…that witnesses that were not friendly to the prosecution were not going to comply voluntarily, which meant that we were going to be litigating subpoenas for months and potentially years,” Neguse said.

“We’re still litigating the subpoena for Don McGahn that the Judiciary Committee issued two years ago,” he added.

Why didn’t House impeachment managers call for witnesses – like @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy, who spoke with former President Trump on Jan 6? #Impeachment Manager @RepJoeNeguse explains –> pic.twitter.com/yvBa9I03c2

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 14, 2021

Neguse added in the interview that he had been “hopeful” that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Republicans who ultimately voted to acquit the former president would instead join with Democrats to convict him.

“I was hopeful that every senator would ultimately vote to do the right thing,” he said. “And I’m grateful that seven of them on the Republican side did that.”

Democrats have largely argued in the hours since Trump’s second acquittal that obtaining more GOP support for impeachment was impossible, even had Democrats opted to collect depositions from witnesses.

“He agreed with us, they all agreed with us,” Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.), Neguse’s fellow impeachment manager, said Sunday, referring to McConnell.

“What we needed we more senators with spines, not more witnesses,” she added.