More GOP senators oppose Trump trial
WASHINGTON — A growing number of Republican senators say they oppose holding an impeachment trial, a sign of the dimming chances that former President Donald Trump will be convicted on the charge that he incited the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol.
House Democrats, who will walk the impeachment charge of “incitement of insurrection” to the Senate on Monday evening, are hoping that strong Republican denunciations of Mr. Trump after the riot will translate into a conviction and a separate vote to bar Mr. Trump from holding office again.
But GOP passions appear to have cooled since the insurrection, and now that Mr. Trump’s presidency is over, the Republican senators who will serve as jurors in the trial are rallying to his legal defense, just as they did during his first impeachment trial last year.
“I think the trial is stupid; I think it’s counterproductive,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said on “Fox News Sunday.”
He said that “the first chance I get to vote to end this trial, I’ll do it,” arguing that it would be bad for the country and further inflame partisan divisions.
Arguments in the Senate trial will begin the week of Feb. 8. Leaders in both parties agreed to the short delay to give Mr. Trump’s team and House prosecutors time to prepare and the Senate the chance to confirm some of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees.
An early vote to dismiss the trial probably would not succeed, given that Democrats now control the Senate. Still, the Republican opposition indicates that many GOP senators would eventually vote to acquit Mr. Trump. Democrats would need the support of 17 Republicans — a high bar — to convict him.
When the House impeached Mr. Trump on Jan. 13 — exactly one week after the siege — Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said he didn’t believe the Senate had the constitutional authority to convict Mr. Trump after he had left office.
On Sunday, Mr. Cotton said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that “the more I talk to other Republican senators, the more they’re beginning to line up” behind that argument.