REPUBLICAN SENATORS SHOW UNITY DESPITE FAILED BID TO CHALLENGE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
WASHINGTON—Forty-five Senate Republicans backed a failed effort on Tuesday to halt former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, in a show of party unity that some cited as a clear sign he will not be convicted of inciting insurrection at the Capitol.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul made a motion on the Senate floor that would have required the chamber to vote on whether Trump’s trial in February violates the US Constitution.
The Democratic-led Senate blocked the motion in a 55-45 vote. But only five Republican lawmakers joined Democrats to reject the move, far short of the 17 Republicans who would need to vote to convict Trump on an impeachment charge that he incited the Jan. 6 Capitol assault that left five people dead.
“It’s one of the few times in Washington where a loss is actually a victory,” Paul later told reporters. “Forty-five votes means the impeachment trial is dead on arrival.”
Paul and other Republicans contend that the proceedings are unconstitutional because Trump left office last Wednesday and the trial will be overseen by Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy instead of by US Chief Justice John Roberts.
Guilt remains unclear
Leahy, 80, was hospitalized for observation on Tuesday evening after not feeling well, his spokesperson David Carle said in a statement, which did not provide further details.
Some Republican senators who backed Paul’s motion said their vote on Tuesday did not indicate how they might come down on Trump’s guilt or innocence after a trial.
“It’s a totally different issue as far as I’m concerned,” Republican Sen. Rob Portman told reporters.
The senators voted after being sworn in as jurors for the impeachment trial.
There is a debate among scholars over whether the Senate can hold a trial for Trump now that he has left office. Many experts have said “late impeachment” is constitutional, arguing that presidents who engage in misconduct late in their terms should not be immune from the very process set out in the Constitution for holding them accountable.