Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) channeled the musical Hamilton while calling for witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial, saying she wants to hear from “the men in the room where it happened.”
Klobuchar said on ABC’s “This Week” that she is calling her fellow senators to push for additional witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial, specifically former national security adviser John Bolton and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
{mosads}“I want to hear from the men – to quote the founding fathers musical – to hear from the men in the room where it happened,” she said “That is people like Mr. Bolton and Mick Mulvaney.”
Klobuchar told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that the Senate is not at the point of attempting to censure the president if he is acquitted, saying her focus lies with obtaining the witnesses for a fair trial.
“Zero witnesses plus zero evidence equals zero justice,” she said. “You can’t have a trial without the witnesses.”
Klobuchar also said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that her Republican colleagues are “afraid to hear” from first-hand witnesses, such as Bolton and Mulvaney.
“I just keep looking over at colleagues and thinking you want to get to the truth, you got elected to this job not serve at the pleasure of the president but to serve the people, and I don’t know how they can cut out facts and evidence,” she said.
“That’s what I keep thinking when I hear the back and forth,” she added.
“Let’s just get this done, hear the witnesses, and that is not what they’re doing. They are afraid to hear from those witnesses.”
The presidential candidate has had to return to Washington for the Senate impeachment trial as the Democratic race heats up in Iowa.
Democrats have been urging senators to vote to allow more witnesses in the upper chamber after several associates of the president declined to comply with their subpoenas. But Republicans have argued the House should have gathered all necessary testimony before impeaching the president.
The Senate will consider the question of witnesses after opening statements.