Democrat is floating censure of Trump
WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine said Wednesday that he’s discussing with colleagues whether a censure resolution to condemn former President Donald Trump for his role in the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol could be an alternative to impeachment, even as the Senate proceeds with a trial.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said the impeachment trial will move forward. But Kaine’s proposal is an acknowledgement that the Senate is unlikely to convict Trump of inciting the riot.
That’s a troubling prospect for many lawmakers who believe Trump must be held accountable in some way for the Capitol attack. If he were convicted, the Senate could hold a second vote to ban him from office.
A censure wouldn’t hold the power of a conviction, but it would put the Senate on record as disapproving of Trump’s role in the insurrection, which came as Congress was counting electoral votes to confirm Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
Just before Trump’s supporters broke through windows and busted through the Capitol’s doors, he gave a fiery speech outside the White House urging them to “fight like hell” to overturn his defeat.
Talk of finding a punishment that more senators could rally around flared a day after just five Republicans joined Democrats in a Senate test vote over the legitimacy of Trump’s trial. It was unclear, though, whether other Democrats, or any Republicans, would sign on to Kaine’s proposal.
House Democrats are busy preparing their formal case against the former president for inciting an insurrection, with arguments starting the week of Feb. 8.
“Make no mistake — there will be a trial, and the evidence against the former president will be presented, in living color, for the nation and every one of us to see,” Schumer said Wednesday.
Kaine noted that the Senate is spending time on impeachment when it could be working to advance coronavirus relief, a major priority for Democrats and Biden.
Tuesday’s vote was “completely clarifying that we’re not going to get near” the 67 Senate votes needed to convict Trump, Kaine said. “So … this (could) be an alternative.”