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Fight Intensifies Over Calling Witnesses for Trump's Impeachment Trial

Masood Farivar

   WASHINGTON - As the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump grinds
   on after a bitter fight over rules, the two sides in the high-stakes
   proceeding are bracing for another round of partisan bickering over a
   deeply divisive issue: witnesses.

   Democrats have a list of four witnesses they say could fill in the
   blanks in the impeachment case against Trump. The four officials
   refused to testify for different reasons during the House inquiry that
   led to Trump's impeachment on abuse of power and obstruction of
   Congress. At the top of the list is former National Security Adviser
   John Bolton, who has said he would testify if subpoenaed.

   On the Republican side, most senators remain opposed to calling
   additional witnesses, saying the House Democrats' case against Trump
   should rise or fall on the 17 witnesses who cooperated with the
   impeachment inquiry. But if Democrats should somehow prevail in calling
   Bolton and others to the Senate trial, Republicans have a coveted
   witness of their own: Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe
   Biden.

   With control of only 47 of 100 seats in the Senate, the Democrats would
   have to persuade four moderate Republicans to side with them in order
   to call witnesses in the coming week and greatly expand the scope of
   the proceedings. Ultimately, any additional testimony is unlikely to
   sway public opinion or make a difference in a trial whose outcome has
   long been deemed a foregone conclusion. "

   I think most of us have had enough evidence," said Mark Graber, a
   constitutional law professor at the University of Maryland. "I'm ready
   to vote. I think most people are ready to vote."

   Here is a look at the witnesses both sides want to hear from:

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