WASHINGTON – A growing number of Republican senators say they oppose an impeachment trial, a sign of the chances that former President Donald Trump will be convicted on charges of inciting the siege of the United States Capitol.
House Democrats, who are going to present the Senate on Monday the impeachment charge of “incitement to insurrection”, hope that Trump’s strong Republican denunciations after the January 6 riot will translate into a conviction and a vote separate to prevent Trump from holding office again. But the Republican Party’s passions appear to have cooled since the insurrection, and now that Trump’s presidency is over, the Republican senators who will serve as jurors at the trial are uniting in their legal defense, as they did during their first impeachment trial last year. .
“I think the trial is stupid, I think it is counterproductive,” said Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla. He said that “the first chance I have to vote to end this trial, I will do it” because he believes it would be bad for the country and would further inflame party divisions.
Arguments at the Senate trial will begin in the week of February 8. Leaders from both parties agreed on the short delay in giving the Trump team and House promoters time to prepare and the Senate a chance to confirm some of President Joe Biden’s nominees for the cabinet.
Democrats say the extra days will allow more evidence to appear about the riots of Trump supporters who interrupted Congressional election counting for Biden’s victory, while Republicans hope to create a unified defense for Trump.
An early vote to reject the trial was unlikely to succeed, as Democrats now control the Senate. Still, the Republican opposition indicates that many Republican senators would end up voting to absolve Trump. Democrats would need the support of 17 Republicans – a high demand – to condemn him.
When the House charged Trump on January 13, exactly a week after the siege, Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Said he did not believe the Senate had constitutional authority to convict Trump after he stepped down. On Sunday, Cotton said “the more I talk to other Republican senators, the more they start to line up” behind that argument.
“I think many Americans will find it strange that the Senate is spending its time trying to convict and dismiss a man who stepped down a week ago,” said Cotton.
Democrats reject this argument, pointing to an 1876 impeachment by a war secretary who had already resigned and to the views of many jurists. Democrats also say that a calculation of the first Capitol invasion since the War of 1812, perpetrated by rioters instigated by a president who told them to “fight like hell” against the electoral results that were being counted at the time, is necessary. the country can move forward and ensure that such a siege never happens again.
Some Republican senators agreed with the Democrats, although not close to the number it will take to condemn Trump.
Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said he believes there is a “overriding opinion” that an impeachment trial is appropriate after someone leaves office.
“I believe that what is being claimed and what we have seen, which is an incitement to insurrection, is an offense liable to impeachment,” said Romney. “If not, what is it?”
But Romney, the only Republican to vote to condemn Trump when the Senate acquitted the then president at last year’s trial, appears to be an isolated case.
Senator Mike Rounds, RS.D., said he believes a trial is a “moot point” after a president’s term ends, “and I think it would be very difficult for them to try to do so in the Senate. “
And Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, tweeted on Saturday: “If it is a good idea to impeach and try former presidents, how about former Democratic presidents when Republicans win a majority in 2022? Think about it and we will do what is best for the country. “
On Friday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close ally of Trump who has helped him form a legal team, asked the Senate to reject the idea of a post-presidential trial – potentially with a vote to reject the prosecution – and The suggested Republicans will examine whether Trump’s words on January 6 were legally “incitement”.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Said the Democrats were sending a message that “hatred and violence against Donald Trump is so strong” that they will hold a trial that will prevent Biden’s political priorities from moving. Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Suggested that Democrats are choosing “revenge” over national security as the new president tries to establish his government.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who said last week that Trump “teased” his supporters before the riot, did not say how he was going to vote or argued any legal strategy. The Kentucky senator told his Republican colleagues that it will be a vote of conscience.
One of the mayor’s nine impeachment managers, Nancy Pelosi, said that Trump’s encouragement to his loyalists before the riot was “an extraordinarily heinous presidential crime.”
“I think you will see that we will set up a case that is so compelling because the facts and the law reveal what this president has done,” said Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa. “I mean, think again. It is only two and a half weeks since the president gathered a crowd at the White House Ellipse. He urged them with his words. And then he lit the match. “
Trump supporters invaded the Capitol and interrupted the electoral count, as he falsely claimed that there was a major election fraud and that it was stolen by Biden. Trump’s claims have been rejected in court, including by Trump-appointed judges and state election officials.
Senator Chris Coons, D-Del., Said in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday that he hopes the clarity in the details of what happened on January 6 “makes it clear to my colleagues and the American people that we need some responsibility . “
Coons questioned how his colleagues who were on the Capitol that day could see the insurrection as anything other than an “impressive violation” of the secular tradition of peaceful transfers of power.
“It is a critical moment in American history and we have to look at it and look closely,” said Coons.
Rubio and Romney were on “Fox News Sunday”, Cotton appeared on Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures” and Romney was also on CNN’s “State of the Union”, as was Dean. Rounds was interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.