Paul’s motion was rejected in a 55-45 vote, with five Republicans joining all Democrats, meaning that 45 Republicans voted in favor of Paul. Republican Senators Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania have crossed party lines to vote with Democrats.
To condemn Trump at his trial, at least 17 Republicans will need to vote with all Democrats when the trial begins next month. Significantly, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell supported Paul in the vote – a potential indicator that he agrees that the constitutionality of a former president’s impeachment is in question.
Paul, a Kentucky Republican, told reporters earlier in the day: “I think there will be (votes) enough to show that more than a third of the Senate thinks the whole process is unconstitutional, which will ultimately show that they doesn’t have the votes to impeach. ”
The Democratic-led House has already voted to impeach Trump, accusing him of inciting insurrection by attacking the Capitol that left several people dead. But two-thirds of the Senate would have to vote to condemn Trump after a trial, an extremely high barrier to be resolved.
The Senate vote on Tuesday effectively put senators on record as to whether they believe a former president’s trial is constitutional. Given the Constitution’s limited language on impeachment, legal experts disagree on whether the Senate can convict a former president. But Democrats have pointed to lawyers at both ends of the political spectrum who say a trial is constitutional.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said on Tuesday about the possibility of Paul forcing the vote: “he has a wealth of very unusual ideas”.
Paul said in a speech before the vote: “I want this body registered, each person here: Is this how you think politics should be?”
“Democrats insist on giving a Republican an incitement test that they refuse to apply to themselves,” he said. “I want Democrats to raise their hands if they ever made a speech that says ‘withdraw’, ‘fight for your country’, who hasn’t used the words to fight figuratively?”
He went on to say, “We are going to put all politicians in prison – are we going to accuse all politicians who used the words to fight figuratively in a speech? What a shame!”
This story was updated with further developments on Tuesday.