WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s senators in the Senate rallied on Sunday to face the former president before his indictment, dismissed it as a waste of time, arguing that the former president’s fiery speech before the US Capitol uprising did not make him responsible for the January 6 violence.
“If held accountable, it means you are being prosecuted by the House and convicted by the Senate, the answer is no,” said Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker, making clear his conviction that Trump should be acquitted and will be. Asked if Congress could consider other punishments, such as abuse, Wicker said the Democratic-led House had the option earlier, but rejected it in favor of accusing it.
“That ship sailed,” he said.
The Senate on Tuesday will launch the indictment to consider the indictment that Trump’s fighting words to protesters during a rally in the Capitol, as well as weeks of falsehoods. over a stolen and fraudulent presidential election provoked a mob to storm the Capitol. Five people were killed as a result of the protest, including a police officer.
Many senators, including Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, immediately denounced the violence and blamed Trump. After the riot, Wicker said Americans “will not stand up to this kind of attack on the rule of law” and without naming names, “we must prosecute those who undermine democracy.
But with Trump now away from the presidency, Republicans have shown little political appetite for further action, such as a charge of indictment that may result in him not standing for election to future office. This partisan division appears to be hardening ahead of Trump’s trial, a sign of his ongoing grip on the IDP.
Wicker on Sunday described Trump’s indictment as a “senseless biased exercise for messages.” Asked if Trump’s behavior should be blamed more than the accusation of President Bill Clinton, whom Wicker voted to accuse, he said: “I do not admit that President Trump has incited an uprising.” Clinton’s accusation, in 1998, was unleashed by his false denial in the establishment of a sexual relationship with a White House intern.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky dismissed Trump’s trial as a “zero-chance” joke, describing Trump’s words to protesters to “fight like hell” while Congress voted for Joe Biden’s to ratify presidential victory as a figurative speech.
“If we’re going to criminalize the speech, and somehow everyone who says, ‘Go fight, hear your voices,’ I really mean we should accuse Chuck Schumer,” Paul said, referring to the current Democratic leader of the Senate. and his criticism of Judges Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. “He went to the Supreme Court, stood before the Supreme Court and specifically said, ‘Hey Gorsuch, Hey Kavanaugh, you’ve unleashed a whirlwind. And you’re going to pay the price. ”
Paul noted that Chief Justice John Roberts refused to preside over this week’s progress action because Trump was no longer president. Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont will preside over the trial while the Senate president is pro tempore.
“It’s a joke, it’s unconstitutional. But more than anything, it is unwise and will divide the country, ‘Paul said.
Last month, Paul forced a vote to set aside the trial as unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office, which legal experts say can be challenged. But the vote suggested that the impossibility of reaching a conviction in a Senate where Democrats have 50 seats but a two-thirds vote – or 67 senators – is needed to convict Trump. Forty-four Republican senators sided with Paul and voted to oppose any accusation at all. Five Republican senators have joined the Democrats in rejecting 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 on conviction in a particular way, and Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said Sunday he would listen attentively to the testimony. But even Trump’s sharper GOP critics acknowledged the widely expected result on Sunday.
“You have voted 45 Republican senators to suggest that they do not think it is appropriate to hold a trial so you can deduce how likely it is that the people will vote to be convicted,” Toomey said. said. Trump has committed ‘impeccable transgressions’.
“I still think the best result would have been for the president to resign” before leaving office, he said. “Obviously he chose not to do that.”
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s ardent defenders, said he believed Trump’s actions were wrong and that he would have a place in history for all of these things, but insisted that is not the job of the Senate to judge.
“It’s not a question of how the trial will end, but a question of when it will end,” Graham said. ‘Republicans are going to consider it an unconstitutional exercise, and the only question is whether they will call witnesses, how long will the trial last? But the result is really not in doubt. ”
Wicker spoke on ABC’s “This Week”, Paul appeared on “Fox News Sunday”, Toomey appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union”, and Graham appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation”.
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Associated Press author Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.