WASHINGTON—Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he expects to start the impeachment trial of President Trump next Tuesday, after the House votes on Wednesday to name the Democrats who will argue the case for Mr. Trump’s removal and to send the case over to the Senate.
Republican senators briefed on draft rules for the trial said they would likely guarantee a vote on witnesses and documents after opening arguments and a period for written questions. Moderate Republicans had been pushing hard behind the scenes for such a vote, while Mr. Trump has urged the Senate to dismiss the articles of impeachment without a trial.
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Mr. McConnell (R., Ky.) emerged from a closed-door lunch with his caucus on Tuesday to say that all 53 Republican senators were united in favor of a resolution setting the rules for the first phase of the trial, but that there is “little or no sentiment” among Senate Republicans for a motion to dismiss.
“You can’t end the trial unless you have 51 people to end the trial,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), a Trump ally. “So yes, there will be an opportunity to make a motion for witnesses and documents.”
The House plans to vote on Wednesday to name the managers and transmit the case to the Senate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said she would announce the managers at a news conference Wednesday morning.
The managers will likely be members of the Democratic caucus who played central roles in the House’s impeachment inquiry. Their role will be to make the Democrats’ case for Mr. Trump’s removal from office in the Senate trial, similar to the role of prosecutors in a criminal proceeding.
The president will also designate a team to defend him. White House counsel Pat Cipollone is expected to lead the team. A Trump personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, is also expected to join.
Democratic lawmakers said Tuesday they expect Mrs. Pelosi to name Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.) to be impeachment managers. Other lawmakers seen as possible managers include Reps. Val Demings (D., Fla.) and Jamie Raskin (D., Md.). It wasn’t known on Tuesday how many individuals Mrs. Pelosi would name.
For the 1999 impeachment trial of President Clinton, Republicans named 13 managers, including Mr. Graham, then a member of the House; current Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson ; and former Rep. James Rogan, the California Republican whom Mr. Schiff defeated in 2000.
The Democratic-led House last month voted to impeach Mr. Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The articles of impeachment accuse him of pressuring Ukraine to open investigations that would benefit him politically, including by withholding almost $400 million in aid to help the country combat Russian aggression, and of impeding Congress’s investigation by preventing witnesses from testifying and defying subpoenas for documentary evidence.
House Democrats on Tuesday released new documentation in connection with the impeachment probe, aiming to incorporate it into the House record in time for the start of the Senate’s trial. The documentation includes messages from Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment on the documents.
Mr. Trump has wavered over the terms of a trial. He has at times indicated he would support a quick trial but at other times suggested his preference for a longer trial that could vindicate him, not merely acquit him.
A protracted trial beginning next week could extend beyond the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses, complicating the presidential campaigns of Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said he has told them he expects them all to attend the trial.
Meanwhile, Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate on Tuesday debated the parameters of the trial. Democrats have demanded the ability to call witnesses and subpoena documents to gather more information than what came out during the House investigation. Most Republicans favor a quick trial without hearing any new evidence.
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“Do Senate Republicans want the truth?” Mr. Schumer asked on the Senate floor. Of 16 completed impeachment trials in the Senate’s history, all but one included witnesses, Mr. Schumer said.
Mr. McConnell said Mr. Schumer wanted to hold votes to subpoena new witnesses and documents merely to trigger tough voters for Republican senators in re-election battles.
“The Senate Democratic leader recently said that as long as he can try to use the trial process to hurt some Republicans’ re-election chances, quote, ‘It’s a win-win.’ That’s what this is all about,” Mr. McConnell said, citing comments Mr. Schumer made in the news media.
Mr. McConnell said House Democrats’ case can’t simultaneously be so strong that it was enough to impeach in the first place but also so weak that the Senate “needs to go fishing.”
Democrats counter that the White House blocked people from testifying in the House Investigation and say they want to hear from more witnesses in the trial.
Some Republicans have supported leaving the door open to call new witnesses. If all Democrats stick together, they would need four Republican votes.
On Tuesday, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) said he would oppose a motion to dismiss the case, saying the Senate has a responsibility to hold a full trial. He said the Senate should hear the arguments and ask questions, and then have a vote on whether to call additional witnesses or evidence.
Witnesses sought by Democrats include former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, both of whom didn’t appear before the House.
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Some Republican senators want to call as a witness Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden. The younger Mr. Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company that Mr. Trump asked Ukraine’s leader to investigate—an act at the center of the House’s impeachment case. Both Bidens deny any wrongdoing.
Write to Natalie Andrews at Natalie.Andrews@wsj.com and Lindsay Wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com
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