Rand Paul May Force a Vote To Call Hunter Biden To Testify In Impeachment Hearings

Here's more, from Politico:

Sen. Rand Paul could force a vote on the Senate floor that would bring Hunter Biden or other White House-favored impeachment witnesses to an impeachment trial. 

Paul said on Thursday he’s considering forcing votes on motions in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial allowing Trump to bring his own witnesses. The Kentucky senator and close Trump ally has urged Congress to call Hunter Biden as a witness for his work at a Ukrainian energy company. 

The House’s impeachment inquiry is investigating whether the president abused his power when he pressured Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter in exchange for military aid. 

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Though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged Republicans on Wednesday to limit divisive votes to bring in witnesses, senators believe they will be able to offer their own amendments on the chamber’s impeachment resolution. Some Republicans also want the Senate to call the whistleblower. 

“I believe very strongly the president should be able to call his own witnesses,” Paul told reporters on Thursday. “The rules that are put forward will be amendable, so yes I will consider strongly that the president should get his full due process, which to me means bringing in his own witnesses.” 

Such a vote would need a majority, meaning Democrats and a handful of Republicans can defeat them fairly easily. But those votes are likely to be difficult for GOP senators facing reelection who are trying to balance their support of Trump with appeals to independent voters.

And from Breitbart:

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) signaled Thursday that he could force a vote in the U.S. Senate that would impel Hunter Biden to testify as part of the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.

“I believe very strongly the president should be able to call his own witnesses,” Paul told reporters on Capitol Hill, reported Politico. “The rules that are put forward will be amendable, so yes I will consider strongly that the president should get his full due process, which to me means being in his own witnesses.”

The vote would require a majority, which meaning Democrats would need several Republicans to cross party lines to defeat the measure — an unlikely scenario as GOP lawmakers in the upper chamber remain united against impeachment, minus such members as Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

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The House Democrats’ impeachment probe was prompted after a so-called “whistleblower” — a CIA analyst who worked with then-vice president Joe Biden in the Obama White House — filed a complaint in which it was claimed President Donald Trump committed wrongdoing by requesting the leader of Ukraine to probe allegations of corruption against the Biden family. The younger Biden was paid $83,333 monthly as a board member of Burisma Holdings, a prominent Ukrainian gas firm marked by allegations of corruption, while his father was vice president. The elder Biden played a key role in forcing out former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin as he was investigating Burisma. The former vice president boasted to the Council of Foreign Relations last year that he had threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid unless the prosecutor was fired.

Paul’s comments come after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called onfellow Republicans on Wednesday to avoid calling for testimony that could spark a showdown with Senate Democrats.