US Democrats seek high-profile trial for Trump in Senate

WASHINGTON - US Democrats on Thursday pressed the Republican-controlled Senate to call Donald Trump's top lieutenants to testify in its trial of the impeached president, as they sought to focus attention on the trial ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

A day after the Democratic-led US House of Representatives impeached Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would not yet formally hand off impeachment to the Senate until she got a sense of how Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell would manage the trial.

"We're ready when we see what they have," she told a news conference.

Pelosi was not expected to move until lawmakers return from their year-end recess in early January, according to aides.

That did not seem to faze McConnell, who said the two sides were at an impasse.

"I'm not sure what leverage there is in refraining from sending us something we do not want," he said on the Senate floor.

The impeachment effort has deepened the partisan divide in Washington, and polls show that public opinion has hardened along ideological lines as well.

One surprise came when Christianity Today, a prominent evangelical publication, called Trump's conduct "profoundly immoral" and said he should be removed from office.

Polls have found that white evangelical Christians are among Trump's most loyal supporters.

Democrats want McConnell to allow top Trump aides like Mick Mulvaney, the White House acting chief of staff, and John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, to testify, according to a senior Democratic aide.

"Is the president's case so weak that none of the president's men can defend him under oath?" asked Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, who later urged McConnell in a meeting to use the two-week recess to consider allowing witnesses.

In a historic vote on Wednesday evening, House Democrats impeached Trump for alleged abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to his attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democratic political foe Joe Biden. He is only the third US president to be impeached.

The Senate trial is expected in early January. Trump himself has expressed an interest in a long trial with witnesses, but senior Republican senators want to put the affair behind them.

They point out that there were no live witnesses at the 1999 impeachment trial of Democratic then-President Bill Clinton.

McConnell and Schumer met on Thursday afternoon. Asked how he felt about Pelosi potentially withholding the articles of impeachment, the Republican said: "If the speaker wants to hold on to them, it's fine with us."

Earlier, McConnell accused Democrats of succumbing to "transient passions and factionalism" and made it clear that he did not think the Senate should find Trump guilty.

"The vote did not reflect what had been proven. It only reflects how they feel about the president. The Senate must put this right," McConnell said on the Senate floor.