WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2020) The US Senate has blocked Democrats' attempts to subpoena two leading White House aides who are allegedly linked to Washington's decision to withhold almost $400 million in military aid to Ukraine in an attempt to pressure Kiev to investigate 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for corruption.
Schumer sought to issue subpoenas against Michael Duffey, an Office of Management and Budget official, and Robert Blair, a leading adviser to acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.
The Senate voted 53-47 on Tuesday afternoon to block Schumer's effort to add the amendment to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's resolution that sets the rules for the Trump impeachment trial.
The first vote of the evening saw the Senate vote on whether to subpoena the White House for documents and records relating to the Ukraine case. Senators rejected this amendment on a party-line 53-47 vote.
Later, the Senate voted 53-47 to reject a second Schumer amendment seeking to subpoena the State Department for certain documents and records related to the Trump-Ukraine case.
The Senate also rejected on Tuesday evening another Schumer amendment seeking to subpoena the Office of Management and Budget for documents related to the Trump-Ukraine case.
After the four Democratic amendments were rejected, Schumer offered an amendment for a subpoena of acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.
"I just demanded a vote on calling as a witness Mick Mulvaney, President Trump's Acting White House Chief of Staff. Will Senate Republicans vote with us for a fair trial? Or will they keep enabling a cover-up like they've done all day by voting against our requests for documents?" Schumer wrote on Twitter late on Tuesday.
Nonetheless, Schumer's fourth amendment, to subpoena Mulvaney, was blocked by the Senate, which voted 53-47 to reject it. The New York Times said that Mulvaney could be summoned later.
Later in the evening, Schumer's fifth amendment, which would allow senators to subpoena Pentagon documents relating to the charges against the president, was voted down, once again along party lines. Senators voted 53-47 to reject the amendment.
After losing the fifth vote of the evening, Schumer immediately introduced another amendment, this time seeking to issue subpoenas against two White House aides: Michael Duffey and Robert Blair. However, this amendment once again failed by a 53-47 vote.
The Trump defense plans to argue that the House of Representatives impeachment charges - obstruction of Congress and abuse of office - are invalid because the US president broke no laws.
If McConnell's resolution is adopted later on Tuesday evening, then both sides will have 24 hours to present their arguments over the period of three days. The Senate would also decide later in the trial whether to allow subpoenas for certain documents and witnesses related to the case.
