Senate surprisingly votes to consider hearing from witnesses in impeachment trial

Mitt Romney.
(Image credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

In what is widely considered a plot twist, the Senate voted 55-45 on Saturday morning to consider hearing from witnesses in former President Donald Trump's Senate impeachment trial.

The upper chamber was expected to vote against calling witnesses, which would have kept the trial on track for a quick verdict vote, but the timeline of the trial is now up in the air. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), joined their Democratic colleagues, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) then flipped from a no to a yes vote, presumably because he wants to make the case for witnesses on behalf of the defense. Tim O'Donnell

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.