WASHINGTON (AP) – Most every Senate jury member said they would listen to the evidence in Donald Trump’s historic second indictment, but most thoughts were probably made up before the trial began. Democrats need a minimum of 17 Republicans to vote with them to convict Trump of inciting insurgency, and that seems unlikely.
Still, Democrats say they hope to win enough Republicans to condemn the former president for his role in the Jan. 6 riots, in which five people died. If Trump is convicted, the Senate could take a second vote to ban him from running again. A final vote is likely Saturday.
Here’s a look at the Republicans watching the Democrats as they make final arguments in the case:
THE REGULAR TRUMP CRITICISM
Republican sense. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine were clear that they believe Trump incited the January 6 riots. While none of them are locks to vote for conviction, they have twice gone with Democrats to vote against the GOP to reject the trial.
Collins said after the riots that Trump did “bear responsibility for building up the crowd and inciting this mob.” Murkowski called on Trump to resign after the attack on the Capitol and told a local newspaper three days later: ‘I want him out. He did enough damage. ”
Romney tweeted on January 6: “What happened at the American Capitol today was an uprising, incited by the President of the United States.” During the trial, Democrats showed a video of Romney fleeing the crowd fleeing, led by a Capitol police officer, while unknowingly running toward the violent crowd.
Sasse said Trump “lied” to Americans and that the “consequences are now being found in five dead Americans and a collapsed Capitol building.” In a recent video, he said that Republican politics should not be about the “strange worship of one dude.”
Murkowski, Collins and Sasse voted to acquit Trump during his first indictment, in which the Democrats accused him of abusing his power by urging the president of Ukraine to investigate the then candidate Joe Biden. Romney was the only GOP-guilty vote, which far convinced the Democrats.
BOUGHT
Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, who is stepping down from the Senate in 2022, also voted twice with the Democrats to proceed with the trial. Like Murkowski, he asked Trump to resign after the riots, saying it would be the best way to ‘get this person in the rearview mirror for us’. Toomey also aggressively pushed back Trump’s false claims that he won Pennsylvania and other states in the election.
Three other GOP senators have said they will not run again in two years’ time, potentially freeing them to vote against Trump and angering party voters – Senator Rob Portman, Ohio, Senator Richard Burr and Senator Richard Shelby in Alabama. All three voted to dismiss the trial, but Portman says he still has an open mind about conviction.
Burr said Thursday he would not comment on the trial at all. Shelby said this week that the accusers have a ‘strong point’ that Trump could have acted earlier to stop the violence, but maintained that the trial is unconstitutional because Trump is now out of office.
CASSIDY AS A WILD CARD
Senate Bill Cassidy, Louisiana, which won by a large margin re-election in 2020, voted two weeks ago for an IDP effort to dismiss the trial. But he switched his voice this week, saying Trump’s lawyers had done a ‘terrible’ job of making the case unconstitutional.
Cassidy, who made extensive notes during the trial, said Friday the drivers raised some “interesting questions” during their two-day arguments. He said he hoped Trump’s lawyers would answer them thoroughly and that he was “trying to approach it objectively.”
During the trial’s question and answer session Friday afternoon, Cassidy asked Trump’s attorneys about a conversation the then president had with Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville led on Jan. 6 just after Vice President Mike Pence was ousted from the Senate. Tuberville says he told Trump that Pence was chased away, making it clear that Trump probably knew of the danger at that point, although he subsequently tweeted criticism of Pence for not trying to overthrow the election. Cassidy asked the lawyers if it showed that Trump “was tolerant of the intimidation of Vice President Pence?”
Attorney Michael van der Veen dismissed Tuberville’s report as ‘hearsay’, an answer that Cassidy later said was not sufficient.
THUNE TAKES HEAT FROM TRUMP
South Dakota Senator John Thune, the Republican of the 2nd Senate, rejected Trump’s efforts to challenge the certification of President Biden’s election victory. He predicted the attempt would go down ‘like a shot dog go’ in the Senate.
The comments elicit an angry response from the former president, who urged Governor Kristi Noem to run against Thune in a GOP election, an idea she immediately rejected.
Still, Thune voted twice to dismiss the case. He said on Friday that he had an open mind and indicated that he could be open to an abuse resolution if Trump is acquitted.
“I know some of my colleagues who have seen at least some resolutions, which I think may draw some support,” Thune said.
EYES ON McCONNELL
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has twice voted to dismiss the trial, suggesting he will eventually vote in favor. But he also said that Trump “provoked” the mob that was “fed with lies”.
Shortly after the attack, McConnell told associates privately he was done with Trump and publicly said he was undecided on charges. He told Republicans the ruling on Trump’s guilt is a conscience.
His neutral stance is in stark contrast to his management of the first trial, when he largely protected Trump and withdrew against the Democrats’ pleas to call witnesses.
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