The chances of President Trump being acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial are unclear, as most Republicans refuse to comment on how he will vote or say he is undecided.
Fox News contacted all Republicans who will serve as senators after President-elect Joe Biden took office on January 20, when the trial is likely to begin.
Given that a two-thirds majority is needed to condemn, seventeen Republicans would have to vote in favor of impeachment, assuming all 50 Democrats did.
But only 13 Republican senators offered to vote for Trump’s acquittal through the House passed impeachment resolution, which accused the president of “inciting insurrection.”
Based on responses to Fox News and publicly available statements, ten Republicans are undecided. Three refused to comment and another 24 did not respond, despite repeated requests for comment over two days of consultations.
Only ten Republicans in the House crossed the corridor to support the impeachment resolution passed on Wednesday.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is among those who say they want to hear the arguments before voting.
“Although the press is full of speculation, I have not made a final decision on how I will vote and I intend to hear the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate,” the majority leader said in a memo to Republican senators. Wednesday that was obtained by Fox News.
Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama is among those who agree.
“I believe we need to wait and listen to the evidence,” Shelby told Fox News on Thursday. “If there is a trial, which would be my third as an acting senator, I would be the judge. And as a juror, I would carefully consider the evidence presented.”
“The charges against President Trump are serious and will be taken seriously, including examining historical and legal precedents and the long-term impacts that a conviction under these circumstances could have on our Republic,” Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska said. to Fox News. “When a trial is held, I will be a juror and will thoroughly examine the arguments and evidence presented, including any defense put together by the president’s legal team.
Alaska Senior Senator Lisa Murkowski was the first Republican in the upper house to call for Trump’s removal. She told a local news agency last week, “I want him to leave.”
Murkowski said the incitement to Trump’s violence was “illegal” and could not “go without consequences”, and she applauded the impeachment.
But she said she would wait for the trial before deciding whether or not to condemn Trump.
“When the impeachment article reaches the Senate, I will follow the oath I took when I was sworn in as a United States senator,” said Murkowski in a statement. “I will listen carefully and consider the arguments on both sides, and then I will announce how I will vote.”
Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey was the only Republican, other than Murkowski, to publicly say last week that Trump had “committed unreasonable offenses” and he maintained his judgment of the president and of the “role he played in the deadly Capitol riot. “.
But he is also not yet ready to be condemned.
“President Trump will step down before a Senate impeachment trial can begin. Whether or not the Senate has constitutional authority to hold an impeachment trial for a president who is no longer in office is debatable,” Toomey told Fox News. . “If the Senate conducts a trial, I will again fulfill my responsibility to consider the arguments of both House administrators and President Trump’s lawyers.”
Republican Sens. Susan Collins, from Maine; Mike Crapo, Indiana; Chuck Grassley, Iowa; James Lankford, Oklahoma; and Ohio’s Rob Portman also told Fox News that they will await trial before issuing a verdict on Trump’s Senate sentencing.
Senators who will vote for absolution have widely cited concerns about the country’s division.
“At a time when the United States needs national healing and a real commitment to the rule of law, the American people must look to their legislators not to deepen the party divide, but to unite us,” Sen. Bill Hagerty, R -Tenn., Told Fox News. “The president’s term of office is seven days away and he is fully committed to a peaceful transfer of power.”
DEMOCRATS ACCUSE TRUMP OF ‘SAFETY ENCOURAGEMENT’
A spokesman for Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., Said the trial was nothing more than a “party exercise that will embitter and further divide the country.”
Paul did not join other members of the Republican Party, led by Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., And Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in opposing the results of the Electoral College last week, and his spokesman told Fox News that he condemned the violence on Capitol Hill.
But the spokesman added: “If Democrats really want to ease tensions and divisions, impeachment is the wrong idea.”
Hagerty and Paul joined in opposing the sentencing of several Republican senators, including Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina; Rick Scott, Florida; Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee; Ted Cruz, Texas; Steve Daines, Montana; Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming; Tim Scott, South Carolina; Marco Rubio, Florida; Tom Cotton, Arkansas; and Roger Wicker, Mississippi.
“Moving forward with impeachment at this juncture will only further divide our already wounded nation,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., Told Fox News. “I respect the right of all my colleagues to vote for their conscience, but we need to calm the rhetoric and start to find ways to work together as Americans.”
Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, the only Republican senator to cross party lines and vote alongside Democrats for impeachment in February 2020, did not respond to Fox News’s inquiry into how he felt about the impeachment trial that followed. approached.
Another 26 Republican senators did not answer Fox News questions about the approaching impeachment trial: John Barrasso, from Wyoming; Roy Blunt, from Missouri; John Boozman, from Arkansas; Mike Braun, from Indiana; Richard Burr, North Carolina; Shelley Moore Capito, of West Virginia; Bill Cassidy, from Louisiana; John Cornyn, from Texas; Kevin Cramer, of North Dakota; Joni Ernst, from Iowa; Deb Fischer, from Nebraska; Josh Hawley, from Missouri; John Hoeven of North Dakota; Jim Inhofe, Oklahoma; Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; John Kennedy, Louisiana; Mike Lee, from Utah; Roger Marshall, from Kanasas; Jerry Moran, from Kansas; James Risch, from Idaho; Mike Rounds, South Dakota; Ben Sasse, from Nebraska; John Thune of South Dakota, Thom Tillis, North Carolina; Tommy Tuberville, Alabama; and Todd Young, from Indiana.
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The sentencing penalty is dismissal from office, but since Trump will have already left the White House, it is unclear what Congress could do if he condemned him, in addition to holding another vote to prevent him from running for reelection.
The Senate is expected to begin Trump’s trial on January 20 at 1 pm, the Politico said for the first time on Thursday.
Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.