McConnell said to be pleased about impeachment attempt
WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitch McConnell has concluded President Donald Trump committed impeachable offenses and believes Democrats’ move to impeach him will make it easier to purge Trump from the party, according to people familiar with McConnell’s thinking.
The private assessment of McConnell, the most powerful Republican in Congress, emerged on the eve of a House vote to formally charge Trump with inciting violence against the country for his role in whipping up a mob of his supporters who stormed the Capitol while lawmakers met to formalize President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Vice President Mike Pence ruled out invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from power.
In a letter late Tuesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Pence said the mechanism should not be used “as a means of punishment or usurpation” and reserved for cases of medical or mental incapacitation. Pelosi called on Pence to secure the majority of the Cabinet and vote to declare Trump unfit to serve.
In a sign that the dam could be breaking against Trump in a party that has long been loyal to him, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 Republican in the House, announced her intention to support the single charge of high crimes and misdemeanors, as other party leaders declined to formally lobby rank-andfile lawmakers to oppose it.
“The president of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” Cheney said in a statement. “There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
Even before McConnell’s position was known and Cheney had announced her plans, advisers to the Senate Republican leader had already privately speculated that a dozen Republican senators — and possibly more — could ultimately vote to convict Trump in a Senate trial that would follow his impeachment by the House. Seventeen Republicans would be needed to join Democrats in finding him guilty. After that, it would take a simple majority to disqualify Trump from ever again holding public office.
In the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader and one of Trump’s most steadfast allies in Congress, has asked other Republicans whether he ought to call on Trump to resign in the aftermath of last week’s riot at the Capitol, according to three Republican officials briefed on the conversations. While he has said he is personally opposed to impeachment, he and other party leaders did not mount an official effort to defeat the push, and McCarthy was working on Tuesday to build support for a censure resolution to rebuke the president for his actions.
Taken together, the stances of Congress’ two top Republicans — neither of whom has said publicly that Trump should resign or be impeached — reflected the politically fraught and fast- moving nature of the crisis the party faces. After four years of backing the president at nearly every turn and refusing to condemn even his most extreme behavior, party leaders were racing to distance themselves from a president many of them now regard as a political and constitutional threat.
McCarthy backed the electoral challenges Republicans lodged last week during Congress’ electoral count, voting twice to overturn Biden’s victory in key swing states even after the siege at the Capitol. McConnell had broken with Trump just as the rioters were breaching the building, warning of a descent into a “death spiral” for democracy if the efforts were to prevail.
Trump has shown no trace of contrition. On Tuesday, in his first public appearance since the siege of the Capitol, he told reporters that his remarks to supporters at a rally that day — in which he exhorted them to go to the Capitol and “fight” so Republicans would reject the election results — had been “totally appropriate.” It was the specter of his impeachment, he said, that was “causing tremendous anger.” But with Twitter having suspended his account for good, Trump no longer has his favorite weapon to train on lawmakers who cross him, which could curtail the blowback they face for voting against him.
Anticipating Pence’s refusal to act, Democrats planned a Wednesday vote on a single article of impeachment charging Trump with “inciting violence against the government of the United States.”
The White House expected roughly two dozen Republicans to support the charge, according to a senior administration official who insisted on anonymity to share a private assessment. Along with Cheney, Reps. John Katko of New York and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois announced they would support the charge. Just over a year ago, House Republicans rallied unanimously against Democrats’ first impeachment of Trump.
Forgoing a lengthy investigation, Democrats released a 76- page report collecting public information about the attack — including social media posts, news articles and other statements — and laying out a legal justification for impeachment.