Republican senators wrestle with what they want their party’s future relationship with Donald Trump
Donald Trump Iran accuses US businessman of espionage charges: reports DC, state capitals see few issues, heavy security amid concerns over pardon Pardon seekers pay Trump allies tens of thousands to lobby president: NYT MORE to be after he left office on Wednesday.
Confronted with a deeply divided Republican conference of the Senate, majority leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell
Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellGraham calls on Schumer to hold the vote to reject the article of accusation against Trump Rove: the chance of conviction increases if Giuliani represents Trump in the Senate indictment. (R-Ky.) Give his colleagues free rein to vote their conscience when the Senate executes Trump on charges of inciting an uprising.
McConnell tells colleagues that he himself did not decide to vote to convict Trump of an article accused by the House, and associates described the GOP leader “as outraged” over the attack on the Capitol by ‘ a pro-Trump mob.
The New York Times reported that McConnell told associates that he saw the indictment as a way for the Republican Party to break up with Trump, although the GOP leader later discounted a speculation in the press.
A Senate vote to condemn Trump will require at least 17 Republican votes to be successful if all 50 Democratic senators vote guilty. A second vote could be held to prevent Trump from being re-elected. This requires a simple majority of the Senate.
While a large number of Republican senators want to break away from what they see as the destabilizing and often volatile leadership of Trump, Republican strategists and assistants warn there is a serious political risk of banishing him from future political office.
“I think this is not an easy call, but I think there will be a lot more Republican support if it is not linked to the Democrats’ clear desire to stop him running for re-election,” Vin Weber said. A Republican strategist. “It simply came to our notice then.
“A lot of people in both parties who want Trump just gone think, ‘That’s fine. We’ll just get rid of Trump. He can not run again, ” he added.
But he warns the ‘tough people of Trump, who probably mean a majority of Republican voters, still consider Trump their leader [and] they consider the election stolen. ”
“If we take the step of letting Trump go again, they will not say anything was stolen. They are simply going to say that the power structure of the country has prevented our leader from running again and that they will be right, ‘he added. “You have created an impossible situation to try to ease the divisions in the country a little bit and soften the mood on the hard-pro-Trump side.”
Some Republicans have already used it as a justification to oppose accusation.
Sen. Tim Scott
Timothy (Tim) Eugene Scott Harris resigned Monday from Senate McConnell says he will not decide whether he will vote to condemn Trump. McConnell will not repeat the role as Trump’s main defender. (RS.C.), an influential member of the GOP conference of the Senate, which last year led the effort to draft a Republican police reform bill, warned that Trump’s accusations of attempts at national unity after the dispute of 2020 will undercut.
“An accusatory vote will only lead to more hatred and a deeply broken nation,” he said, arguing that Trump’s conviction would fly in direct opposition to the presidential election. Joe Biden
Joe Biden Fear of intruders calls for additional FBI investigation into National Guard troops: AP Iran condemns US businessman on espionage charge: reports DC, state capitals see few problems, heavy security amid protest concerns MORE called all year long. ”
At the same time, outrage increased within the Senate Republican conference as news details of the attack on Congress emerged last week.
Federal prosecutors filed a lawsuit Friday in court alleging they had “strong evidence” that the rioters who violated the Capitol were planning to “capture and kill elected officials, including vice president” Mike Pence
Michael (Mike) Richard Pence Recent release of Capitol siege shows rioters confronting police and jogging through Senate desk Author: Meadows is the worst White House staffer in history Democratic lawmaker says ‘murder party’ was hunted on Pelosi during MORE.
That revelation angered Sen. Ben Sasse
Ben SasseSasse, in a fiery op-ed, says QAnon destroys GOP Democratic super-PAC targets on Hawley, Cruz in new ad blitz Hotel cancels Hawley fundraiser after Capitol riot: ‘We are terrified’ MORE (R-Neb.), An influential conservative candidate running for office in 2024.
“These men were not drunks who made noise – they were terrorists who attacked this country’s constitutional transfer of power. They failed, but they came dangerously close to starting a bloody constitutional crisis. They must be prosecuted in the full extent of the law, “Sasse said in a statement.
Trump’s declining popularity, his words of encouragement to a crowd of supporters before last week’s Capitol storm and his discouraging and unfounded allegations that the 2020 election was stolen have prompted GOP senators to find a way to resolve the issue. to retire outgoing president.
A small group of Republican senators have indicated they are open to voting to convict Trump of inciting the crowd.
“I believe this president committed an unpredictable offense by his words on the sixth of January and until the sixth of January, when he was not honest with the American people about the election and the election results,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski
Lisa Ann Murkowski Democratic lawmaker says ‘assassination party’ hunted on Pelosi during riots. The indictment hears Trump’s grip on Senate GOP ‘Almost Heaven, West Virginia’ – Joe Manchin and a 50-50 Senate MORE (R-Alaska) told KTUU, a news channel from Alaska.
Sasse, Sens. Pat Toomey
Patrick (Pat) Joseph Toomey’s government used the Patriot Act to collect visitor files on the site in 2019. The Court of Appeals ruled that the NSA’s collection of telephone data illegally withdraws Dunford from the chair of the Coronavirus surveillance panel. (R-Pa.), Susan Collins
Susan Margaret Collins Arrest tests Trump’s grip on Senate GOP ‘Almost Heaven, West Virginia’ – Joe Manchin and a 50-50 Senate McConnell are teaching Trump more about political power for the last time (R-Maine) and Mitt Romney
Willard (Mitt) Mitt Romney’s arrest tests Trump’s grip on Senate GOP ‘Almost Heaven, West Virginia’ – Joe Manchin and a 50-50 Senate The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden asks Congress for the biggest aid response in US history to expand (R-Utah) also said that Trump had committed unpredictable transgressions, or blamed him for inciting the crowd that stormed the Capitol.
However, Republican assistants say the Democrats will not get 17 GOP senators convicted of Trump after he leaves office.
‘This is an opportunity to purify Trump, yes. I do not know there are 17 votes to do so. This is more of an opportunity for the Democrats to try to destroy the Republican Party. “What the Democrats have done very successfully is to politicize accusation without hearings, no process in the House,” said an assistant to the GOP of the Senate.
The assistant predicted that Trump’s legal team would respond on the Senate floor with statements and videos by Democratic politicians urging their supporters to ‘fight’ and show sympathy with the Black Lives Matter protests last year, which resulted in property destroyed and killed in several cities.
Reeds Sen. Ted Cruz
Rafael (Ted) Edward Cruz Recently released video of the Capitol siege shows rioters confronting police and moving through the Senate’s desk. Can we protect our country from our rulers and ourselves? Democratic super PAC targets Hawley, Cruz in new ad blitz MORE (R-Texas), which has been asked by several Democratic colleagues to resign because because of its role in opposing the final vote for Biden, it points to Democrats’ support for the summer protests.
Some Republicans like Sen. Tom Cotton
Tom Bryant Cotton: Officials support second Trump indictment Booker: It would be ‘constitutionally dangerous’ not to conduct a full Trump indictment. Can we protect our country, against our rulers and ourselves? MORE (R-Ark.) Will try to circumvent the question of whether Trump has committed unpredictable offenses by arguing that accusation does not apply to a private citizen, this is what Trump will be by the start of the trial of the Senate.
“The founders designed the indictment process as a way to remove officials from public office – not an investigation into private citizens,” he said in a statement.
There is also increasing uncertainty or Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Nancy PelosiCowboys arrested for Trump founder after riot by Capitol retired Army general: ‘We can not get protesters to show up at a Capitol with a damn long gun’ Graham appeals to Schumer to vote to keep rejecting the article of accusation against Trump MORE. (D-Calif.) Will even send the House-sent article to the Senate this month, as it will force a trial to begin immediately, suggesting work on the $ 1.9 billion COVID-19 emergency proposal what Biden revealed will stop and hang. confirmation of his nominees for the cabinet.
The Republican aide said Republicans are unlikely to give Democrats permission to work on a coronavirus relief bill and that Biden’s nominees will be confirmed while the trial is underway, meaning the incoming president’s agenda will last for weeks. can come to a standstill.
Some Democrats have been trying to silence the Senate for two weeks to a month.
Sen. Joe Manchin
Joseph (Joe) ManchinBiden tax hike proposal looms bumpy road ahead. Senate Democrats are happy that Manchin’s philosophy is ignored: Hawley, Cruz must be removed with the 14th amendment ‘must be a consideration’ MORE (DW.Va.), an influential centrist, says a Senate hearing after Trump leaves office “makes no sense at all.”
Sen. Chris Murphy
Christopher (Chris) Scott Murphy Senate Democrats love negative filibuster Democratic senator: COVID-19 relief is priority over prosecution trial. Lawmakers push back on Trump designation of Yemen’s Houthiers MORE (D-Conn.) Said Friday his priority is to move an emergency relief package and Biden’s nominees before holding a trial to convict a former president.
The Senate hearing could not begin before 8pm on January 20, after Trump was not in office, because the upper chamber is in a recess until Tuesday.