Senate Votes 55-45 to Call Witnesses, Then Reverses After McConnell Threatens Delay

In a dramatic twist on the final day of Trump’s second impeachment trial, the Senate voted 55-45 on Saturday morning, February 13, 2021, to call witnesses—specifically Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, who possessed crucial testimony about a January 6 phone call between Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Five Republicans joined all fifty Democrats in voting to subpoena Herrera Beutler: Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and surprisingly Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. The surprise vote appeared to upend the trial’s fast-tracked timeline and raised the possibility of a prolonged proceeding with extensive witness testimony. However, within hours, the Senate reversed course after Trump’s defense team threatened to call “over 100 depositions” and Republican signals emerged that they would drag the trial out for weeks or months, making it impossible for the Biden administration to advance its legislative agenda.

The reversal came after House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team negotiated a deal to enter Herrera Beutler’s written statement into the trial record without requiring her live testimony or deposition. Lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin read the statement into the record, formally admitting it as trial evidence, and the trial immediately moved to closing arguments without calling any witnesses. The decision drew fierce criticism from Democrats and constitutional scholars who argued that the managers had backed down from a critical opportunity to present additional evidence proving Trump’s state of mind during the attack. The episode exposed the political constraints facing the impeachment managers: even with damning new evidence available, the Republican firewall protecting Trump made conviction mathematically impossible, and prolonging the trial risked political backlash without changing the ultimate outcome.

The Herrera Beutler Statement: Trump’s Response to the Attack

The testimony that the Senate initially voted to hear—and ultimately entered into the record without live questioning—was explosive. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of ten House Republicans who had voted to impeach Trump, released a statement confirming that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had recounted to her details of a phone call he had with Trump during the January 6 attack. According to Herrera Beutler’s account, as the Capitol was under siege and McCarthy’s life was in danger, McCarthy frantically called Trump and asked him to “publicly and forcefully call off the riot.” Trump initially responded by falsely claiming that antifa, not his supporters, was responsible for the attack.

When McCarthy insisted that was not true and that these were Trump supporters violently attacking the Capitol, Trump replied with a statement that revealed his state of mind: “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.” The response demonstrated Trump’s approval of the rioters’ motivations and his lack of concern for the violence unfolding against Congress—including against his own Republican allies. Later reporting, including in books published after the trial, revealed even more inflammatory details: McCarthy had yelled at Trump “Who the fuck do you think you are talking to?” as rioters were literally trying to kill him, and told Trump the rioters were “trying to fucking kill me.” Trump’s response to McCarthy’s pleas was dismissive and showed he sided with the mob over the constitutional process and even over his own party’s congressional leadership.

The Witness Vote Reversal and Strategic Calculation

The managers’ decision to abandon live witness testimony came after Trump’s defense attorney Michael van der Veen theatrically threatened that if Democrats called witnesses, he would demand “over 100 depositions” and would subpoena House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris. Van der Veen insisted that any depositions would need to occur in his Philadelphia law office, not via Zoom, further threatening to drag the process out. More significantly, Republican senators signaled they would support extended proceedings, with Senator John Cornyn of Texas tweeting “No end in sight. This could drag on indefinitely” after the witness vote. The prospect of a trial extending for weeks or months—while President Biden’s Cabinet nominees remained unconfirmed and his COVID-19 relief package stalled—created enormous political pressure on Democrats to wrap up the trial quickly.

Lead manager Jamie Raskin later defended the decision, arguing: “We could have had 500 witnesses, and it would not have overcome the kinds of arguments being made by Mitch McConnell and other Republicans who were hanging their hats on the claim that it was somehow unconstitutional to try a former president.” Raskin’s assessment reflected the political reality: with 44 Republicans already committed to voting not guilty on jurisdictional grounds, no amount of additional evidence would secure the 67 votes needed for conviction. The managers calculated that Herrera Beutler’s written statement entering the record achieved the most important goal—formally documenting Trump’s indifference to the violence—without the political cost of an extended trial.

Criticism and Lost Opportunity

However, many Democrats and legal observers criticized the managers’ decision as a capitulation that undermined the trial’s credibility. The reversal occurred after the managers themselves had argued forcefully that witness testimony was essential, with Raskin requesting the subpoena on the grounds that Herrera Beutler’s account provided critical evidence of Trump’s intent and his refusal to stop the violence. Critics argued that backing down so quickly made the initial witness vote appear performative and suggested Democrats were more concerned with political convenience than thorough accountability. The decision to accept a written statement instead of live testimony meant that senators did not hear Herrera Beutler questioned under oath, did not hear McCarthy testify directly about his conversation with Trump, and did not have the opportunity to develop additional evidence through witness questioning.

The episode also revealed McConnell’s strategic maneuvering: he had delayed the trial until Trump left office, creating the jurisdictional argument that would provide political cover for Republicans to vote not guilty, and now he was weaponizing the possibility of delay to prevent additional evidence from being presented. The witness reversal demonstrated that even when presented with a bipartisan vote to hear testimony—including from five Republicans—the political dynamics of a closely divided Senate made extended proceedings untenable. The managers’ decision reflected hard-nosed political realism: they had already presented overwhelming evidence of Trump’s guilt through video and documentary records, and additional witnesses would not change the predetermined votes of senators who had already decided to acquit based on constitutional arguments or partisan loyalty.

The Herrera Beutler statement that was entered into the record nonetheless became an important historical document. It provided contemporaneous evidence from a Republican source that Trump, during the attack itself, had sided with the mob over Congress and had shown no concern for the violence being perpetrated in his name. The statement corroborated the managers’ central argument that Trump had not merely failed to stop the violence but had actively approved of it because it served his goal of overturning the election. However, without live testimony and cross-examination, the statement’s impact was muted, and the opportunity to create a dramatic trial moment that might have moved public opinion—if not Senate votes—was lost. The witness reversal became emblematic of the trial’s broader dynamic: powerful evidence of presidential misconduct confronting insurmountable partisan political realities.