Thread by @SethAbramson

BREAKING NEWS: Mitch McConnell Says He Does *Not* Have the Votes to Block Senate Witnesses

wsj.com/articles/trump…

1/ For those who can't read the article, it appears Collins, Romney, Alexander and Murkowski are the reason McConnell says he doesn't have the votes to block witnesses. But you also see Toomey saying he'd vote for Bolton if the GOP caucus agrees to vote for a witness Trump wants.

2/ Moreover, you have Graham and Lankford saying that they at *least* want to see the Bolton manuscript, which would suggest that they are *not openly opposing Bolton as a witness* yet. This would suggest that at *least* seven GOP senators won't tell McConnell they oppose Bolton.

3/ Given that there are *53* GOP senators and only ~8 have clearly come out against hearing from Bolton, while ~7 have refused to take that position, you have to think at least a few of the other 38 either favor hearing from Bolton or can't tell McConnell yet that they oppose it.

4/ It seems clear the public threat from Rep. Meadows today, and the false statement by Sen. Barrasso that there's a "consensus" in the GOP not to hear from Bolton, were *bluster* to hide from America or Trump or both that we are headed toward at *least* one, maybe two witnesses.

5/ Earlier today I posted here on the feed a breaking news story indicating that Trump had "resigned himself" to there being witnesses at his impeachment trial. This would seem to suggest he's hearing something *roughly* along the lines of what the Wall Street Journal is hearing.

6/ Remember that many of the GOP senators we're hearing most from regarding the idea that there *won't* be any witnesses are senators who are in some way tied to Trump's Russia and/or Ukraine scandals in unexplained ways: Braun; Johnson; Scott; Cruz; and even McConnell himself.

7/ While we must remain cautious about any news regarding potential witnesses, it's also important to remember that Trump's supporters in Congress freely use disinformation to advance their agendas. Some of the senators the media had been quoting are people *no one* should trust.

8/ In other words, if you have been calling various members of Congress to urge them to hear from witnesses at Trump's impeachment trial, you certainly should *not* let your foot off the pedal but simply know that your efforts are by no means in vain and could wind up successful.

UPDATE/

More from the WSJ: "Senate Majority Leader McConnell said the vote total wasn't where it needed to be on blocking witnesses or documents, these people said. He had a card with YES, NO, and MAYBES marked on it, apparently a whip count, but he didn't show it to senators."

10/ A reader observes that I did not mention Rob Portman as a likely pro-witnesses senator, and that's a very good point. There seems to be a view in media that Portman is open to Bolton testifying. I think we also don't know where Gardner, the endangered Colorado senator, is at.