On Tuesday evening, during the impeachment trial, manager Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) laid out all of the key reasons why it is critical to compel White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to testify before the Senate.
"Let's ask why the need to hear from Mick Mulvaney is so critical," said Jeffries. "First, Leader McConnell's resolution undercuts more than 200 years of Senate impeachment trial practice. It departs from every impeachment trial conducted to date, and goes against the Senate's own longstanding impeachment rules, which contemplates the possibility of new witness testimony. In fact, it departs from any criminal or civil trial procedure in America. Why should this president be held to a different standard?"
"Second, the proposed amendment for witness testimony is necessary in light of the president's determined effort to bury the evidence and cover up his corrupt abuse of power," said Jeffries. "The House tried to get Mr. Mulvaney's testimony. We subpoenaed him. Mr. Mulvaney, together with other key witnesses, National Security Adviser John Bolton, senior White House aide Robert Blair, Office of Management and Budget official Michael Duffy, and National Security Council lawyer John Eisenberg were called to testify before the House as part of this impeachment inquiry. But President Trump was determined to hide from the American people what they had to say. The president directed the entire executive branch, and all of his top aides and advisers, to defy all requests for their testimony. That cannot be allowed to stand.
"Third, Mr. Mulvaney is a highly relevant witness to the events at issue in this trial," continued Jeffries. "Mr. Mulvaney was at the center of every stage of the president's substantial pressure campaign against Ukraine. Based on the extensive evidence the House did obtain, it is clear that Mulvaney was crucial in planning the scheme, executing its implementation and carrying out the cover-up. Emails and witness testimony show that Mr. Mulvaney was in the loop on the president's decision to explicitly condition a White House meeting on Ukraine's announcement of investigations beneficial to the president's reelection prospects. He was closely involved in implementing the president's hold on the security assistance and subsequently admitted that the funds were being withheld to put pressure on Ukraine to conduct one of the phony political investigations that the president wanted."
"A trial would not be complete without the testimony of Mick Mulvaney," concluded Jeffries.
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