The impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump may be headed for a quick resolution.
With a razor-thin vote of 51-49, mainly along party lines, Senators rejected a plan to call additional witnesses or submit further evidence in the trial, thus paving the way for the final phase of the proceedings.
NBC News reported that the disclosure by two Republican swing Senators since Thursday night, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski and Tennessee's Lamar Alexander that they planned to vote against calling witnesses raised the likelihood that the question on calling witnesses would be defeated.
House managers, Democratic members of Congress who have been acting as "prosecutors" in the trial, were hoping witnesses and evidence could be entered, particularly in light of revelations written by former national security adviser John Bolton in an unpublished book.
In the manuscript, read by journalists at The New York Times, Bolton appeared to confirm the case set forth by Democrats. Trump is accused of abusing the power of his office by withholding military aid from Ukraine, on the condition that Ukraine begins an investigation into a likely election opponent and his son.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the majority believed that what was already entered into evidence was plenty to come to a decision.
"A majority of the U.S. Senate has determined that the numerous witnesses and 28,000-plus pages of documents already in evidence are sufficient to judge the House managers' accusations and end this impeachment trial," said McConnell as reported by NBC. "There is no need for the Senate to re-open the investigation which the House Democratic majority chose to conclude and which the managers themselves continue to describe as 'overwhelming' and 'beyond any doubt'".
With the push to call witnesses now dead in the water, the trial is expected to move forward with closing arguments. A vote on whether to convict or acquit Trump on two articles of impeachment will follow.