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Sen. King Says Impeachment Trial 'May Be One Of The Strangest Trials In American History'

Jose Luis Magana
/
AP Photo
Kingwalks to the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020.

U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, says he believes the Senate will fully debate whether witness testimony should be required in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, but he says whether enough Republicans will vote to call in witnesses, such as former National Security Advisor John Bolton or acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, is another matter.

"It may be one of the strangest trials in American history, where the evidence comes after the argument. Or the evidence, I should say, may come after the argument,” King says. “We don't know whether there will ultimately be witnesses and the documents produced."

King says when he checked on constituent calls to his office Thursday morning, there was close to 100 percent support for calling witnesses.

"You know, 'what's going on here?'... And I think my colleagues, if they ultimately continue to block calling witnesses and evidence, I think they're going to have a hard time going home and explaining that," King says.

King's seatmate, GOP Sen. Susan Collins, helped broker an agreement to allow the House impeachment proceedings into the Senate record, but she also stuck with her leadership to turn back early efforts to bring witnesses in during the trial's initial stages.

A Columbia University graduate, Fred began his journalism career as a print reporter in Vermont, then came to Maine Public in 2001 as its political reporter, as well as serving as a host for a variety of Maine Public Radio and Maine Public Television programs. Fred later went on to become news director for New England Public Radio in Western Massachusetts and worked as a freelancer for National Public Radio and a number of regional public radio stations, including WBUR in Boston and NHPR in New Hampshire.