There have been only a handful of Republicans in favor of calling witnesses in the President’s impeachment trial which until now has led everyone to assume that there would not be enough votes to block calling witnesses. But it may be that all of that is changing now.

On Thursday night, Sen. Lamar Alexander, who was one of the Republicans who was on the fence about the witnesses announced that he would not support it given that the whole trial is “shallow, hurried, and wholly partisan”.

Then on Friday morning, Sen. Lisa Murkowski who was another on the fence announced that she wouldn’t support the additional witnesses either.

Murkowski said in her statement, “Given the partisan nature of this impeachment from the very beginning and throughout, I have come to the conclusion that there will be no fair trial in the Senate. I don’t believe the continuation of this process will change anything. It is sad for me to admit that, as an institution, the Congress has failed,”

“It has also become clear some of my colleagues intend to further politicize this process, and drag the Supreme Court into the fray, while attacking the Chief Justice. I will not stand for nor support that effort. We have already degraded this institution for partisan political benefit, and I will not enable those who wish to pull down another.”

“We are sadly at a low point of division in this country,” Murkowski said.

This now gives the Republicans enough votes to block the additional witnesses and this has sent Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer off the deep end.

Schumer said in a statement to the press, “I believe that the American people should hear what every Senator thinks and why they’re voting the way they’re voting. And we will do what we can to make sure that happens.”

.@SenSchumer: "I believe that the American people should hear what every Senator thinks and why they're voting the way they're voting. And we will do what we can to make sure that happens." pic.twitter.com/vL3RMGfg2d

— CSPAN (@cspan) January 31, 2020

I can tell you what the Senators think. They think that Democrats already had every available opportunity to have their witnesses in the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committee hearings to get all their evidence. That’s exactly what those hearings are for.

They’ve also seen that the Democrats do not have even the slightest bit of credible evidence to suggest any wrongdoing by the President. It’s like the President has said this entire time, they are out on a witch hunt.