Democrat seen as potential swing vote says he’ll side with convicting Trump in impeachment trial

Sen. Doug Jones, an Alabama Democrat facing an uphill reelection battle in 2020, said Wednesday morning he will vote to convict President Donald Trump on both articles of impeachment.

Jones was one of a handful of senators whose vote was still in question on the verdict of Trump’s impeachment trial, which will come to an end with a vote Wednesday that’s all but guaranteed to end in an acquittal.

The Senate will vote at 4 p.m. ET for each of the two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The outcome is a forgone conclusion: Senate Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the chamber, and so far no Republicans have said they will vote to remove the President from office. A two-thirds majority is required for conviction.

The final vote tally is still an open question, with a handful of senators who have not said how they are voting.

“After many sleepless nights, I have reluctantly concluded that the evidence is sufficient to convict the President for both abuse of power and obstruction of Congress,” Jones said in a statement explaining how he will vote.

The acquittal vote will mark the end of historic and whirlwind four-month impeachment proceedings that began in September with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing the inquiry into the President amid allegations he had withheld US security aid while pressuring Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. The House made Trump the third President to be impeached in December by passing the two articles of impeachment without Republican votes.

The final Senate vote on the impeachment verdict comes after a bitter fight over the trial, which began two weeks ago. Senate Democrats and the House impeachment managers pushed for the Senate to hear from witnesses in the trial, including former national security adviser John Bolton, whose draft book manuscript alleged that the President had told him he conditioned the US aid to Ukraine on investigations into Democrats.

But Senate Republicans rejected the need for witnesses, defeating a motion to call witnesses 49-51. They argued that the House should have called the witnesses it wanted before impeaching the President and that voting for witnesses could have sparked executive privilege concerns that extended the trial indefinitely. Many Republicans, including Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a key swing vote, said the House had proved its case that the President had tied the US aid to investigations. But Alexander and other Republicans argued that the conduct wasn’t impeachable.

In his State of the Union address Tuesday evening, Trump did not mention impeachment. But the raw anger on both sides over the process was on full display, starting with Trump not shaking the speaker’s hand and ending with Pelosi ripping up Trump’s speech after he concluded.

While the outcome of the final vote isn’t in doubt, there are still some senators being eyed to cross party lines. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah is the only Republican vote that’s still in question, while Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona also haven’t said how they are voting.

Since closing arguments ended on Monday, a steady stream of senators have gone to the floor to explain their votes. The fence-sitting senators are expected to do the same on Wednesday.

In his closing argument Monday, lead House impeachment manager Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California urged Republicans to consider their place in history with their votes.

“If you find that the House has proved its case and still vote to acquit, your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel and for all of history,” Schiff said. “But if you find the courage to stand up to him, to speak the awful truth to his rank falsehood, your place will be among the Davids who took on Goliath. If only you will say enough.”

The President’s lawyers responded that the House had failed to charge the President with a crime and rushed the impeachment process.

“They have cheapened the awesome power of impeachment and, unfortunately, of course, the country is not better for that,” the President’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow said Monday. “We urge this body to dispense with these partisan articles of impeachment for the sake of the nation, for the sake of the Constitution.”

Manchin would not say Wednesday morning which way he would vote, adding that he’s making the decision on his own. “It’s been very difficult for me,” Manchin said.