Tennessee’s senior senator announced Thursday night he will vote against hearing from additional witnesses during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
Republican Lamar Alexander said in a statement he got to his final decision after hearing the arguments presented by President Trump’s lawyers and managers from the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I worked with other senators to make sure that we have the right to ask for more documents and witnesses,” Alexander said Thursday night after the trial adjourned for the day. “But there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the United States Constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense.”
Alexander doubled down on his stance that it was inappropriate for Trump to ask Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. He also slammed the president’s decision to withhold aid from the European country.
But Alexander said the Senate doesn’t have the power to remove the president for “actions that are inappropriate.”
“The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did,” Alexander said. “I believe that the Constitution provides that the people should make that decision in the presidential election that begins in Iowa on Monday.”
For the last couple of weeks, Alexander has been on the spotlight for being someone other Republican senators would model their votes after.
During the two-day questioning period Alexander joined other senators in asking questions to the lawyers.
With his announcement, it is more than likely that the Senate will effectively block bringing more witnesses to testify.
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