The lawmaker noted that he will hold off on his decision until the end of the opening arguments from the Democratic impeachment managers and the president’s defence lawyers, he told CNN.
"I think it's very likely I'll be in favour of witnesses, but I haven't made a decision finally yet and I won't until the testimony is completed," Romney said Saturday after the first day of the Trump team’s opening arguments on the Senate floor. He declined to comment on the work of the president’s team, noting that he “doesn’t have any comments on the process or the evidence until the trial is over.”
Earlier, Romney was the first Republican to specifically say that he wanted to hear the testimony of former White House national security adviser John Bolton during the trial. The lawmaker told reporters that he wanted to find out “what he knows” about Trump’s contacts with Ukraine, the central issue in the impeachment effort against the president.
“I would like to be able to hear from John Bolton. What the process is to make that happen, I don’t have an answer for you,” Romney said.
Bolton has yet to be subpoenaed by lawmakers in the trial, and Democrats will need at least four Republican votes to call former Trump administration officials or any other witnesses. So far, two Republicans - Maine Senator Susan Collins and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski – have indicated that they might support the motion. However, most GOP lawmakers, including Lindsey Graham and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have said that calling additional witnesses would be an unnecessary move that will extend the length of the trial.
