Rubio and Scott vote against hearing from witnesses and will vote to acquit Trump
Florida Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott voted Friday against hearing from additional witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump and both senators plan to vote for acquittal.
After 11 days of not publicly discussing impeachment, Rubio explained his decision in an online posting hours before the vote to require additional witnesses and documents failed 51-49.
“Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a president from office,” Rubio wrote.
In the statement Rubio released Friday, his analysis of Trump’s conduct differed from other Republican senators. Rubio said that even if he assumed the allegations made by Democrats about Trump’s conduct were true when considering whether to convict, the facts weren’t compelling enough to remove Trump from office.
“I will not vote to remove the president because doing so would inflict extraordinary and potentially irreparable damage to our already divided nation,” Rubio said in a statement. “I also reject the argument that unless we call new witnesses this is not a fair trial.”
Trump was impeached by House Democrats over his decision to halt military aid to Ukraine until that country’s newly elected president launched an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian company.
The second article of impeachment focused on his decision not to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the matter.
Rubio said he has a high threshold for impeachment, and he generally isn’t in favor of impeachment in an election year when only one party supports the impeachment articles sent to the Senate.
Rubio did not weigh in on the facts and allegations presented by House impeachment managers regarding Trump’s conduct, which the president and other Republican senators have described as “perfect.”
Rubio, who normally speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill, was one of a handful of senators from both parties who stayed quiet about the trial while it was ongoing.
But his silence didn’t stop him from capitalizing on the trial.
On the first day of the impeachment trial, Rubio made ripples on social media when he pulled a quill pen from his desk on the Senate floor. The moment was captured by a sketch artist and went viral, prompting Rubio’s campaign to send an email with the subject line “Take notes like Marco!” The email promises to send supporters who donate at least $35 a quill pen with the senator’s name on it. The money goes to WinRed, a newly launched Republican smalldollar fundraising effort that promotes Republicans running for office.
Scott — who has vocally defended the president throughout the trial and even bought airtime in Iowa to run a TV ad that attacks Biden and his son — confirmed late Thursday that he will vote against witnesses and to acquit the president.
“This was [the House managers’] job to prove the case, and they haven’t proven it so far,” Scott said to reporters Friday.
Alex Daugherty: 202-383-6049, @alextdaugherty