WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump supporters in the Senate on Sunday gathered around the former president before his impeachment trial, dismissing this as a waste of time and arguing that the former president’s impetuous speech before the US Capitol insurrection does not hold him responsible for the January 6 violence.
“If being held accountable means being impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate, the answer is no,” said Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, making clear his belief that Trump should and will be absolved. Asked whether Congress could consider another punishment, such as censorship, Wicker said the Democratic-led House had had this option before, but rejected it in favor of its impeachment.
“This ship sailed,” he said.
The Senate is due to launch the impeachment trial on Tuesday to consider the charge that Trump’s words of combat to protesters at a Capitol rally, as well as weeks of falsehoods about a stolen and rigged presidential election provoked a crowd to invade the Capitol. Five people died as a result of the confusion, including a police officer.
Many senators, including Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, immediately denounced the violence and pointed the blame to Trump. After the rebellion, Wicker said that Americans “will not accept this type of attack on the rule of law” and, without naming names, said that “we must prosecute” those who undermine democracy.
But with Trump’s departure from the presidency, Republicans showed little political appetite to take further action., as an impeachment conviction that could prevent you from running for a future position. These party divisions appear to be hardening before Trump’s trial, a sign of his continued control over the GOP.
On Sunday, Wicker described Trump’s impeachment trial as a “party exercise in meaningless messages”. When asked whether Trump’s conduct should be more deserving of impeachment than that of President Bill Clinton, whom Wicker voted for impeachment, he said: “I am not admitting that President Trump has incited an insurrection.” Clinton’s impeachment in 1998 was prompted by his false denial in a testimony of sexual intercourse with a White House intern.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky called the Trump trial a “zero chance of conviction” scam, describing Trump’s words to protesters to “fight like hell” as Congress voted to ratify Joe Biden’s presidential victory as a “figurative” speech.
“If we’re going to criminalize speech and somehow challenge everyone who says, ‘Go fight to hear your voices’, I mean, we really should accuse Chuck Schumer then,” said Paul, referring to the now Democratic majority leader in the Senate. and his criticisms of Judges Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. “He went to the Supreme Court, stood in front of the Supreme Court and said specifically: ‘Hey Gorsuch, hey Kavanaugh, you have unleashed a hurricane. And you will pay the price. ‘”
Paul noted that Chief Justice John Roberts refused to chair this week’s impeachment process because Trump was no longer president. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont will preside over the trial as president pro tempore of the Senate.
“It is a farce, it is unconstitutional. But more than anything, he is not wise and will divide the country, ”said Paul.
Last month, Paul forced a vote to overrule the trial as unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office, which legal experts say is questionable. But the vote suggested the near impossibility of reaching a conviction in a Senate where Democrats have 50 seats, but a two-thirds vote – or 67 senators – would be needed to convict Trump. Forty-four Republican senators sided with Paul and voted against an impeachment trial. Five Republican senators joined the Democrats to reject Paul’s motion: Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Some Republicans said the vote did not “bind” them to vote in a particular way on the conviction, with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana saying on Sunday that he would listen carefully to the evidence. But even the Republican Party’s fiercest critics on Sunday acknowledged the widely expected outcome.
“You had 45 Republican senators voting to suggest that they didn’t think it would be appropriate to conduct a trial, so you can infer how likely these people are to vote to convict,” said Toomey, who made it clear that he believes Trump has committed “unacceptable offenses”.
“I still think the best result would have been the president’s resignation” before leaving office, he said. “Obviously, he chose not to do that.”
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s ardent supporters, said he believed Trump’s actions were wrong and “he will have a place in history for all of this,” but insisted that it is not up to the Senate to judge.
“It is not a question of how the trial ends, it is a question of when it ends,” said Graham. “Republicans are going to see this as an unconstitutional exercise and the only question is: are they going to call witnesses, how long does the trial take? But the result is not really in doubt. “
Wicker spoke on ABC’s “This Week”, Paul was on “Fox News Sunday”, Toomey appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union”, and Graham was on CBS’s “Face the Nation”.
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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.