Trump conviction looks very unlikely
Only 5 GOP senators offer support for holding a trial
Washington — All but five Republican senators backed former President Donald Trump on Tuesday in a key test vote before the forthcoming impeachment trial, signaling that the proceedings probably will end with Trump’s acquittal on the charge that he incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Trump’s trial is not scheduled to begin until Feb. 9, but senators were sworn in for the proceedings Tuesday and immediately voted on an objection raised by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., questioning the constitutional basis for the impeachment and removal of a former president.
“Impeachment is for removal from office, and the accused here has already left office,” he said on the floor earlier in the day, adding that the trial would “drag our great country down into the gutter of rancor and vitriol, the likes of which has never been seen in our nation’s history.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., immediately moved to end Paul’s objection, prompting a vote. Five Republican senators voted against Paul — Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
The largely partisan vote indicated that nearly three weeks after the Capitol attack GOP misgivings about proceeding with sanctions for Trump had significantly deepened. Notably, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — who had said Trump had “provoked” the Capitol mob — voted to back Paul and Trump.
To convict Trump, it would require 67 members of the 100-member body. If convicted, Trump could be barred from holding future office with a subsequent majority vote. Paul had sought to muster at least 34 votes to signal that there are enough senators with constitutional misgivings to secure an acquittal.
After the vote, Paul said the tally indicated that “the impeachment trial is dead on arrival.”
Before the vote, Republican senators met for a private lunch during which they heard from Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor who has said a former president cannot be tried for impeachment.
The theory has gained traction among Republicans in the 10 days since the House impeached Trump for a second time, giving lawmakers — even those with misgivings over Trump’s conduct surrounding the Jan. 6 riot — a way to sidestep a direct assessment of the former president’s culpability for the violence at the Capitol.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he hoped Tuesday’s vote would prompt Democrats to reassess if it was even worth having a trial.
“I hope my colleagues to look at it from the standpoint, is it wise to do this?” he said. “I would hope we would end this now. It’s just not wise. It’s not healing. It’s divisive.”
Democrats and many legal scholars have balked at the argument that a former president — or any former official — cannot be convicted after impeachment. Not only does that signal that presidents can act with impunity late in their terms, they say, but that the Constitution specifically notes that a consequence of a conviction includes the possibility that an impeached official can be barred from future office.