7 GOP senators vote to convict
Of the 57 “guilty” votes that rang out on the Senate floor Saturday, only one — uttered by Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. — elicited gasps from around the chamber.
The North Carolina Republican had given no previous indication he was leaning toward voting to convict former president Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection, after a pro-trump mob overran the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a violent siege that left five people dead.
But the days-long trial had convinced Burr of Trump’s culpability, he said in a statement afterward.
“The evidence is compelling that President Trump is guilty of inciting an insurrection against a coequal branch of government and that the charge rises to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. Therefore, I have voted to convict,” Burr said. “I do not make this decision lightly, but I believe it is necessary. By what he did and by what he did not do, President Trump violated his oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Ultimately Burr was joined by six of his GOP colleagues, who voted alongside all 50 Democrats to convict Trump. However, it fell short of the number of votes needed — two-thirds of the senators present — for Trump to be convicted. In a 57 to 43 vote, the Senate acquitted Trump of the charge of inciting an insurrection,
Burr, along with Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania, were the Republicans who voted to convict Trump.
In a lengthy statement, Sasse blasted Trump’s repeated lies about the election having been stolen from him and and also defended the constitutionality of the trial.
“The president abused his power while in office and the House of Representatives impeached him while he was still in office,” Sasse said. “If Congress cannot forcefully respond to an intimidation attack on Article I instigated by the head of Article II, our constitutional balance will be permanently tilted. A weak and timid Congress will increasingly submit to an emboldened and empowered presidency. That’s unacceptable. This institution needs to respect itself enough to tell the executive that some lines cannot be crossed.”