“Senate Republicans and the White House should know that the evidence against Trump won’t be hidden forever. On day one as president, I will order the release of every document related to this impeachment inquiry that they’ve been hiding. The people will learn the truth,” Warren wrote.

Warren, who is running for the Democratic nomination for president, tweeted from her campaign account shortly after news broke that the last swing vote on a resolution to call witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Trump — Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski — had decided to vote “no," all but ensuring a quick acquittal.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren is pledging that, if elected president, she’ll release “every document” related to the Ukraine scandal and impeachment inquiry on her first day in office, denouncing the Senate impeachment trial as a “sham” in a series of tweets.


House managers, led by US Representative Adam Schiff, have urged the Senate to call witnesses and subpoena the White House for documents related to Trump’s freeze on military aid for Ukraine. But it became clear Friday afternoon that there were not enough Republican votes to do so. The White House repeatedly refused to turn over documents during the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment inquiry in December.

A president has broad authority to release such documents, even those withheld by the previous administration, according to one legal expert.

“So long as the documents are in the possession of the White House and of the president, it’s for the president to decide,” said Richard Lempert, law professor emeritus and evidence scholar at the University of Michigan.

Warren has been an outspoken critic of the impeachment trial in the Senate, and rankled some Republicans Thursday when she submitted a question to Chief Justice John Roberts that forced Roberts to ponder aloud whether he was contributing to the loss of the government’s legitimacy by presiding over a trial in which witnesses or other evidence are not permitted.


In her decision not to call for witnesses, Murkowski appeared to cite Warren’s question as part of her reasoning:

“It has also become clear some of my colleagues intend to further politicize this process, and drag the Supreme Court into the fray, while attacking the Chief Justice. I will not stand for nor support that effort," Murkowski said in a statement Friday.

Without witness testimony that would extend the proceedings, the Senate is poised to acquit Trump on two articles of impeachment next week.









Christina Prignano can be reached at christina.prignano@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @cprignano.