A presidential impeachment trial in the Senate without witnesses would be without precedent. In the first such Senate trials in our nation's history, involving President Andrew Johnson in 1868, 41 witnesses were called : 25 by the prosecution and 16 by the defense. And in President Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial , three witnesses were called to testify: Monica Lewinsky, Clinton confidant Vernon Jordan and White House aide Sidney Blumenthal. For example, the Senate employed that Senate rule for three recent impeachment trials of federal judges. Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer has only requested four witnesses to testify in the trial, not 21 or 55.

Source: CNN January 13, 2020 00:56 UTC