Rand Paul: 45 Republicans Prepared to Dismiss Charges Against President

Breitbart ^ | 1/22/2020 | Hannah bleau

[bitt]

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said on Wednesday that 45 GOP senators are prepared to dismiss the charges against President Trump and effectively end the Senate impeachment trial.

The Kentucky senator told the Washington Post on day two of the Senate impeachment trial that 45 Republicans are ready to dismiss the charges against Trump. (Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber.) He estimated that “five to eight” want to “hear a little more.”

“There are 45, with about five to eight wanting to hear a little more,” Paul told the Post. “I still would like to dismiss it, but there aren’t the votes to do it just yet.”

However, Paul said he is not pushing the point just yet.

“I will push it at some point,” he told the paper, adding, “The more Adam Schiff speaks, the more we become unified.”

Paul has openly rejected the Democrats’ calls for additional witnesses and has issued a political threat to his GOP colleagues, in the event they side with Democrats.

“If you vote against Hunter Biden, you’re voting to lose your election, basically. Seriously. That’s what it is,” Paul said, according to Politico. He continued:

If you don’t want to vote and you think you’re going to have to vote against Hunter Biden, you should just vote against witnesses, period. My first preference would be to be done with it as soon as possible and not to have any witnesses.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told reporters on Wednesday that a witness trade is “off the table,” but Paul affirmed that he does not believe the Senate should call former national security adviser John Bolton as a witness, referring to him as “a disgruntled employee with an ax to grind.”

[gcparent]

Roberts can’t vote in the senate.