Trump impeachment news - live: Senate votes against calling witnesses, setting up president's acquittal
Republicans to dictate next steps in trial after failure to subpoena evidence
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Donald Trump looks all but certain to be acquitted by the Senate as Republicans rejected a Democratic effort to force new evidence and witnesses ahead of the president's impeachment vote.
Just two Republicans broke rank to vote with Democrats in favour of further witnesses, which will likely allow Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to make good on his previous promise not to act as an impartial juror. In response, Chuck Schumer cast the results as making it impossible for Mr Trump to be truly vindicated.
"If the president is acquitted with no witnesses, no documents, the acquittal will have no value because Americans will know that this trial was not a real trial," Mr Schumer said.
Two potential swing vote Republicans, who Democrats had hoped to break from their party line and ask to hear from witnesses, ultimately decided against the proposition. Senators Lamar Alexander and Lisa Murkowski ultimately rejected the motion.
Following the vote, and his desired outcome, Mr McConnell said that the senators will "confer among ourselves, with the House managers, and with the president's counsel to determine next steps as we prepare to conclude the trial in the coming days".
Before his departure to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend as the Senate debated the next steps in his impeachment trial, the president announced an expansion of his travel ban, adding six additional countries to a list of seven others with travel restrictions under guidance from his Department of Homeland Security. Many of the impacted countries have majority Muslim populations.
The White House also announced the US will deny entry to foreign nationals attempting to enter the US within two weeks of visiting China in the wake of a rapidly developing coronavirus outbreak that has sickened thousands of people in a dozen countries.
The US has declared a national emergency as it responds to 200 quarantined people, including six infected patients, in the US.
Follow our live coverage as it happened:
The Senate is expected to vote on witnesses this evening.
Meanwhile, the president is headed to Mar-a-Lago. He didn't address the press huddle before his departure.
He hasn't stopped to speak with reporters since 13 January.
NPR reports that former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, who provided key testimony to Congress in its impeachment investigation, has officially retired from the state department.
Her departure follows revelations that she was allegedly under surveillance during her post as well as the recent release of a recording that captures Donald Trump telling Rudy Giuliani's associates to "get rid of her" and "take her out".
And that's it. By a vote of 51-49, the Senate defeated a motion that would allow senators to subpoena witnesses and documents in the president's trial.
The vote followed a day of debate over the measure, as potential swing vote senators announced their decision to fall along party lines and reject Democrat attempts to introduce witness testimony to the trial.
Without a process for witness testimony, the president is almost certain to be acquitted, getting the speedy trial that Mitch McConnell had planned.
Reaction from two of the Senate's Democratic presidential candidates after a failed attempt to bring witnesses to Donald Trump's trial:
The president's response to the vote:
It appears he's echoing complaints from Republicans and his legal team that House Democrats were responsible for evidence collecting, despite Republicans just voting against that ability in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, on the trial's next steps: "Senators will now confer among ourselves, with the House Managers, and with the President’s counsel to determine next steps as we prepare to conclude the trial in the coming days."
McConnell says there's "no need for the Senate to re-open the investigation which the House Democratic majority chose to conclude and which the Managers themselves continue to describe as 'overwhelming' and 'beyond any doubt.'"
Democrats and Republicans will decide a on a timeline tonight to determine next steps in the trial.
The Senate will convene later this evening on a motion with amendments to chart the next phases of the president's trial, beginning on Monday morning and closing out as early as Wednesday, when Republicans likely will vote to acquit the president of the two charges levelled against him.
The Independent's John T Bennett writes: "Pushing the end of the trial to Wednesday means Mr Trump would be set to deliver his State of the Union address the night before, giving him a chance to mock the very House Democrats who impeached him just hours before the Senate would be poised to clear him on both charges.
That possible scene would produce some of the most dramatic images in recent US political history, just the kind of made-for-television moment relished by the reality television star-turned-commander in chief."
Here's a look at the vote breakdown, which fell almost entirely on party lines, with the exception of two Republicans — Susan Collins and Mitt Romney — who had previously announced their intention to vote for the motion to allow subpoenas for witnesses and documents.
The vote's scales were tipped by Lisa Murkowski and Lamar Alexander, two swing votes on the motion, who ultimately voted against it.
And with that, we're closing today's live coverage of the impeachment trial and the Trump administration.
Stay tuned with The Independent.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies