Heading towards the end of the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, things seem to be unraveling for Democrats by the hour.
Late Wednesday, Republican leadership announced they had secured enough votes to block witnesses from appearing — a major victory for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R- K.Y.
The leader of Trump’s removal efforts, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., had been aggressively pushing the Senate to call one witness in particular: former national security advisor John Bolton.
Not only has Schiff seemingly lost that fight… but his would-be “star witness” has imploded as well.
On Wednesday, the credibility of Bolton was called into question by uncovered video footage.
Bolton reportedly wrote “bombshell” accusations in his forthcoming book that seemed to undermine Trump’s legal defense on the controversial Ukrainian phone call to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to leaked excerpts obtained by The New York Times, Bolton claims Trump told him explicitly that foreign aid to Ukraine was being withheld in exchange for an investigation into political rival Joe Biden.
Uncovered footage of an interview with Fox News, shared by the White House and their political allies on Wednesday, has contradicted that claim. In the video, Bolton discusses the controversial phone call. He described the exchange as “warm” and “cordial” and praised the president.
Trump shared the footage and labeled it “GAME OVER” for his impeachment rivals.
GAME OVER! pic.twitter.com/yvMa6bPqfy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2020
Additional footage uncovered by Fox News shows Schiff in 2018 claiming Bolton has a “lack of credibility” and is prone to believe “conspiracy theories.” The cable news giant also dug up years of footage where leading Democrats such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. all questioning Bolton’s integrity.
As the Senate impeachment trial grinds toward a climax, cracks have started to appear on the Democratic side.
Conservative Democratic Sens. Doug Jones, A.L., Joe Manchin, W.V., and Kyrsten Sinema, A.Z., are all question marks to vote on Trump’s removal from office.
Ultimately, the three Democrats’ votes on whether to acquit him won’t likely affect the trial’s outcome. It seems certain that the GOP-run Senate will lack the 67 votes needed to remove Trump from office, no matter what the trio does.
But the Democrats’ decisions will color their political careers and this year’s presidential campaign.
If one or more of them votes to acquit Trump — even voting against one article of impeachment while supporting the other, which many consider likely — it could hurt Democrats in the 2020 general election. Trump could spend his reelection campaign asserting that he was cleared by a bipartisan vote.
All three wavering Democrats come from states Trump won in 2016 and where Democrats struggle to win elections.
“They have reputations for being independent actors,” said Democratic pollster Mark Mellman. “I think that’s what they’ll do here.”
With Democrats impeachment efforts unraveling, Trump taunted Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his political allies on social media Wednesday.
There is much talk that certain Democrats are going to be voting with Republicans on the Impeachment Hoax, so that the Senate can get back to the business of taking care of the American people. Sorry, but Cryin’ Chuck Schumer will never let that happen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2020
Asked what he’d tell his undecided colleagues, Schumer said, “The only message I have is: Listen to the arguments carefully and make your own decision of conscience.”
FURTHER ANALYSIS: Trump will win impeachment… even with Bolton as a witness, says top legal expert
The Associated Press contributed to this article