GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah is coming under pressure over calling for witnesses to appear in the impeachment trial of US president Donald Trump in the Senate.
Republican Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler targeted Romney in a tweet on Monday, saying his call is aimed at “appeasing to the left.”
“After 2 weeks, it's clear that Democrats have no case for impeachment. Sadly, my colleague @SenatorRomney wants to appease the left by calling witnesses who will slander the @realDonaldTrump during their 15 minutes of fame. The circus is over. It's time to move on," Loeffler said.
The call comes amid new bombshell claims from former national security advisor John Bolton, alleging in a book draft that President Donald Trump wanted to freeze Ukrainian military aid until Kiev investigated his political rivals.
“They say their case is overwhelming and uncontested. It is not. They say they have proven each of the articles against president trump. They have not,” White House Deputy Counsel Michael Purpura said. “The facts and evidence of the case the house managers have brought exonerate the president.”
Romney has suggested that other Republican senators could join him in calls for more witnesses to testify and evidence presented.
"I'm sure we're going to hear all about Mr. Bolton if he's given the opportunity to testify. We'll hear people talk about where this information came from, did he have notes and so forth. So that'll be discussed at great length at some point," said the Utah senator, who was fired from the White House by Trump.
"I think it's important to be able to hear from John Bolton for us to be able to make an impartial judgment," he said.
Lev Parnas is another potential witness. The Soviet-born businessman, who has close ties to Trump's personal lawyer, recently revealed details about Trump’s attempt to find dirt on Democratic frontrunner, Joe Biden, ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
Parnas was arrested in October along with Igor Fruman, another Soviet-born businessman, also working for Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.