Common Cause Urges Senators to Listen to The People and Call Witness

Today, Common Cause strongly urged the United States Senate to obey the will of the people and vote for the motion to allow future votes on witnesses and evidence in President Trump’s impeachment trial. In a letter to every Senator, Common Cause emphasized that the American people expect and deserve a fair impeachment trial – not a show trial to excuse the abuses of office which led to the impeachment of President Trump.

The letter points to new polling, including a recent Monmouth poll, showing that more than 75% of Americans say that Trump officials, as well as the president himself, should be invited to testify at the Senate trial. A similar CNN poll found that 69% of Americans, including 48% of Republicans, say that the impeachment trial should include testimony from new witnesses who did not testify in the House trial. Most recently a Quinnipiac poll found 75% of Americans in favor of calling witnesses – including 49% of Republicans, 95% of Democrats and 75% of independents.

“Americans expect and deserve a fair trial that examines the facts behind President Trump withholding vital military aide to Ukraine in order to coerce our ally into launching a bogus investigation into one of the President’s political rivals,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause. “Polling shows that Americans, by overwhelming margins, support calling new witnesses to testify. It is time for Senate Republicans to put the interests of the nation before the interests of the Republican Party. The nation is watching.”

The letter emphasizes that witnesses who have first-hand knowledge of President Trump’s alleged bribery scheme, such as John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney, must be compelled to testify. Common Cause is mobilizing its 1.2 million supporters to contact their Senators to encourage them to vote for witnesses.

The repercussions from this vote and this trial, the letter stresses, will extend far beyond President Trump. If the Senate blocks witnesses, evidence, and transparency in President Trump’s impeachment trial it would set a dangerous precedent and potentially undermine the Constitution for generations. If party-line fealty in investigations of presidential abuse of power becomes the new normal on Capitol Hill, Republicans may well find the next time that it is Democrats ignoring the Constitution and staging show trials to excuse one of their own.

Common Cause will score this vote on its 2020 Democracy Scorecard, which will be sent to relevant reporters and the organization’s 1.2 million members.

To read the letter, click here.