Schumer Declares New Report A ‘Game Changer’ and Is Now Demanding Witnesses At Impeachment Trial

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is insisting that Democrats be allowed to subpoena witnesses at President Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial in the wake of a new report from The New York Times.

‘Direct knowledge’

Schumer claims the Times report shows that high ranking Trump administration officials have “direct knowledge” of  the president’s call to withhold nearly $400 million in U.S. aid to Ukraine.

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“Last night The New York Times published a new story detailing the machinations President Trump and his aides took to withhold military aid from Ukraine,” Schumer said in a Monday press conference.

He continued, “This new story shows all four witnesses we Senate Democrats have requested — [acting White House chief of staff] Mick Mulvaney, [former adviser] John Bolton, [Office of Management and Budget Associate Director] Michael Duffey, and [White House aide] Robert Blair — were intimately involved and had direct knowledge of President Trump’s decision to cut off aid in order to benefit himself.”

“Simply put: in our fight to have key documents and witnesses in a Senate impeachment trial, these new revelations are a game changer,” Schumer said. “This new reporting shows that there were serious concerns raised by Trump administration officials about the propriety and legality of what the President was doing.”

Dragnet?

Schumer referred to an old television program as a reason why Democrats should be able to call witnesses.

“As Sergeant Joe Friday said in Dragnet, ‘Just the facts ma’am.’ That’s all we want: the facts. We don’t know how these witnesses will testify. We don’t know what the documents, if we get them…our hands on them, will say. Maybe it’ll be exculpatory of President Trump or maybe it’ll be further condemning President Trump’s actions. We don’t know! But we should see them regardless of what they say,” Schumer said.

In the New York Times story Schumer referred to, titled “Behind the Ukraine Aid Freeze: 84 Days of Conflict and Confusion,” reporters held interviews with “dozens of current and former administration officials, congressional aides and others” and reviewed “previously undisclosed emails and documents” and thousands of pages of impeachment testimony to compile “the most complete account yet of the 84 days from when Mr. Trump first inquired about the money to his decision in September to relent.”

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‘This story makes the choice even clearer’

Schumer said Monday, “So far, neither Senator [Mitch] McConnell, nor any Republican senator, has articulated a single good reason why the trial shouldn’t have these witnesses or these documents. President Trump hasn’t given a reason. McConnell and Trump do a lot of finger-pointing and name calling but they never refute why these witnesses shouldn’t come, why these documents should not be there.”

“So I hope every Republican senator should read this story and explains why they would oppose our reasonable request for witnesses and documents in the Senate trial,” Schumer said.

“This story makes the choice even clearer: Will the Senate hold a fair trial, or will it enable a cover-up?” he added.

is a professional writer and editor with over 15 years of experience in conservative media and Republican politics. He... More about John Hanson

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