Senate votes to defeat motion for new witnesses in the impeachment trial

The US Senate voted on Friday evening to defeat a motion to bring new witnesses in the impeachment trial, likely ending the Democrats' campaign to remove President Donald Trump.

The motion was defeated with a vote of 51 to 49.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) denounced the action and said it invalidated the impeachment trial.

"The acquittal will have no value," he told reporters.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) released his own statement calling the matter closed.

"A majority of the U.S. Senate has determined that the numerous witnesses and 28,000-plus pages of documents already in evidence are sufficient to judge the House Managers' accusations and end this impeachment trial," the statement read.

"There is no need for the Senate to re-open the investigation which the House Democratic majority chose to conclude and which the Managers themselves continue to describe as 'overwhelming' and 'beyond any doubt,'" he added.

Democrats and other critics of the president were outraged when Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced on Thursday that the would be voting against new witnesses because he said it was already clear that the president acted inappropriately.

They hoped that there might be a tie in the vote for the new witness motion and that Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts might break the tie in favor of new witnesses, but the vote cut off that possibility.

Here's the latest in the impeachment trial:

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