/Senate Television via AP
By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez | Arizona Republic
Cloistered in the Senate, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Martha McSally cast their first votes in President Donald Trump’s historic impeachment trial, which started Tuesday with a debate on the rules governing how the trial would unfold.
Both senators remained loyal to their party positions in the first procedural votes of the trial.
Sinema, a Democrat, and McSally, a Republican, split on the first vote.
By a 53-47 vote along party lines, the GOP-controlled Senate knocked down an effort by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to subpoena White House emails and other documents deemed relevant by House managers to Trump’s efforts to withhold military aid to Ukraine while pressuring its officials to investigate Trump’s 2020 Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden and his son.
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The House impeachment managers and Democrats argued Republicans are trying to conceal the documents and said they are essential to conducting a fair Senate trial. Republicans said the attempt to access more documents shows that the Democrat-controlled House’s impeachment inquiry lacked evidence.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he wanted to vote on subpoenaing additional witnesses and documents after the first phase of the trial.
Video of the chamber captured McSally standing to announce her vote on the amendment, saying, “Aye.”
Sinema was simply heard saying “No.”
