Alexis Simendinger:

It was very interesting to see the logic behind some of the senators who were considered to be potential supporters of the idea of hearing from witnesses and to subpoena documents. You mentioned Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. He's retiring from the Senate. So there was some thought that perhaps on his way out, he might think that witnesses was a good idea. But in the end, what he said was interesting. He said that he believed that the house managers had actually established the facts, that the president had done something that he considered inappropriate in his effort to try to persuade Ukraine to start an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. But he said, in his view, it was not impeachable. And therefore, if he had decided it was not an impeachable offense, there was no point in hearing from additional witnesses.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who we remember had actually challenged Donald Trump in the primary in 2016, also suggested that in his view, there might have been merit to the suggestion that the president had acted inappropriately, but it was not impeachable. So what we're gonna be going into in these speeches early this week and leading up to the votes on the two articles of impeachment are additional statements from lawmakers about why they're voting in particular ways. And we know what Democrats think, but there there's still some Democrats we want to hear from.

And then, of course, these Republicans are very much eager to explain to their electorate and their states. Susan Collins from Maine is a Republican who definitely wants to talk to her constituents in Maine. She's up for reelection and she voted in favor of the idea of witnesses.