WASHINGTON
(AP) — Republicans lack the votes to block witnesses at President
Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
conceded late Tuesday, a potentially major hurdle for Trump’s hopes to
end the trial with a quick acquittal. Earlier, Trump’s lawyers concluded
his defense with a plea to move on.

Even after sitting through
days and late nights of argument, several Republicans apparently are
ready to join Democrats in considering in-person testimony from former
National Security Adviser John Bolton and perhaps others.

Trump’s lawyers made their closing case for a speedy acquittal Tuesday, but to no avail.

McConnell
told colleagues in a private meeting that he did not yet have the votes
to block Democrats from summoning witnesses. That outcome would prolong
an election-year trial that Trump and his legal team had hoped was on
track, as one lawyer said, to “end now, as soon as possible.”

McConnnell’s
statement, in a closed-door meeting of senators, was an acknowledgment
of the extent to which revelations from Bolton have scrambled the
trial’s schedule and the desire for testimony. Bolton writes in a
forthcoming book that Trump told him he wanted to withhold military aid
from Ukraine until it helped with investigations into Democratic rival
Joe Biden. That assertion, if true, would undercut a key defense
argument and go to the heart of one major article of impeachment against
the president.

Trump complained anew at a rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, focusing on Democrats rather than Republican senators.

“While
we are creating jobs and killing terrorists, the congressional
Democrats are obsessed with demented hoaxes, crazy witch hunts and
deranged partisan crusades,” he said.

There are still several days
before any potential witness vote would be taken. A decision to call
more witnesses would require 51 votes to pass. With a 53-47 majority,
Republicans can only afford to lose three. If senators agree they want
more witnesses they would then have to vote again on who to call.

McConnell
convened the private meeting shortly after Trump’s legal team concluded
their arguments in the trial, arguing forcefully against the relevance
of testimony from Bolton and insisting that nothing Trump had done
amounted to an impeachable offense.

While scoffing at Bolton’s
book manuscript, Trump and the Republicans have strongly resisted
summoning him to testify in person about what he saw and heard as
Trump’s top national security adviser.

A day after the defense
team largely brushed past Bolton, attorney Jay Sekulow addressed the
controversy head-on by dismissing the book — said to contradict a key
defense argument about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine — as
“inadmissible.”

“It is not a game of leaks and unsourced manuscripts,” Sekulow said.

A
night earlier Trump attorney Alan Dershowitz said that nothing in the
manuscript — even if true — rises to the level of an impeachable
offense. Sekulow also sought to undermine the credibility of Bolton’s
book by noting that Attorney General William Barr has disputed comments
attributed to him by Bolton.

Senate Republicans spent considerable
time in private discussing how to deal with Bolton’s manuscript without
extending the proceedings or jeopardizing the president’s expected
acquittal. Those lost steam, and Democrats showed no interest.

Chuck
Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, called a proposal for senators to
be shown the manuscript in private, keeping Bolton out of public
testimony, “absurd.”

“We’re not bargaining with them. We want
four witnesses, and four sets of documents, then the truth will come
out,” Schumer said.

‘Senators are being warned that if they agree
to call Bolton to testify or try to access his book manuscript, the
White House will block him, beginning a weeks-long court battle over
executive privilege and national security. That had seemed to leave the
few senators, including Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine
and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who have expressed a desire to hear new
testimony without strong backing.

Also, other Republicans
including Sen. Pat Toomey want reciprocity — bring in Bolton or another
Democratic witness in exchange for one from the GOP side. Some
Republicans want to hear from Biden and his son, Hunter, who was on the
board of a Ukrainian gas company when his father was vice president.

The
Bidens were a focus of Trump defense arguments though no evidence of
wrongdoing has emerged. The lawyers also delved into areas that
Democrats see as outside the scope of impeachment, chastising former FBI
Director James Comey and seizing on surveillance errors the FBI has
acknowledged making in its Russian election interference probe.

Trump’s
attorneys argued that the Founding Fathers took care to make sure that
impeachment was narrowly defined, with offenses clearly enumerated.

“The
bar for impeachment cannot be set this low,” Sekulow said. “Danger.
Danger. Danger. These articles must be rejected. The Constitution
requires it. Justice demands it.”

Before consideration of
witnesses, the case now moves toward written questions, with senators on
both sides getting 16 hours to pose queries. By late in the week, they
are expected to hold a vote on whether or not to hear from any
witnesses.

“I don’t know that the manuscript would make any
difference in the outcome of the trial,” said Roy Blunt of Missouri, a
member of GOP leadership. And some Republicans said they simply don’t
trust Bolton’s word. Rand Paul of Kentucky called Bolton “disgruntled”’
and seeking to make money off his time at the White house.

But John Kelly, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, told an audience in Sarasota, Florida, that he believes Bolton.

White
House officials privately acknowledge that they are essentially
powerless to block the book’s publication, but could sue after the fact
if they believe it violated the confidentiality agreement Bolton signed
against disclosing classified information.

Trump is charged
with abusing his presidential power by asking Ukraine’s leader to help
investigate Biden at the same time his administration was withholding
hundreds of millions of dollars in security aid. A second charge accuses
Trump of obstructing Congress in its probe.

Trump and his lawyers
have argued repeatedly that Democrats are using impeachment to try to
undo the results of the last presidential election and drive Trump from
office.

“What they are asking you to do is to throw out a
successful president on the eve of an election, with no basis, and in
violation of the Constitution,” said White House Counsel Pat Cipollone.
“Why not trust the American people with this decision? Why tear up their
ballots?”

Democrats, meanwhile, say Trump’s refusal to allow
administration officials to testify only reinforces that the White House
is hiding evidence. The White House has had Bolton’s manuscript for
about a month, according to a letter from Bolton’s attorney.

No
matter the vote on witnesses, acquittal still seems likely given that
Republicans hold a majority in the Senate and conviction would require a
two-thirds majority against Trump.

According to data compiled by C-SPAN, the House managers used just under 22 of their 24 hours over three days, while the White House team used almost 12 hours, or half their time.

Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Mary Clare Jalonick, Andrew Taylor, Matthew Daly, Laurie Kellman and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.