Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Senate jurors split along party lines

Chamber likely to acquit Trump on Wednesday

- Andrew Taylor ALEX BRANDON/AP

WASHINGTON – The Senate is so far cleaving neatly along party lines in advance of Wednesday’s virtually certain votes to acquit President Donald Trump on two impeachmen­t charges, with just two or three undecided members even considerin­g breaking with their party.

The chamber’s top Republican, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, again slammed the impeachmen­t drive of House Democrats as “the most rushed, least fair and least thorough” in history and confirmed that he will vote to acquit Trump.

Less than a majority of the GOP-held Senate is expected to vote to convict Trump, much less the two-thirds required to remove him from office and install Vice President Mike Pence.

McConnell said the two charges against Trump – that he abused his power and obstructed Congress’ ensuing investigat­ion – are “constituti­onally incoherent” and don’t “even approach a case for the first presidenti­al removal in American history.”

The Kentucky Republican opened the Senate with a scathing assessment of the case presented by House Democrats, but he did not address whether Trump’s actions were inappropri­ate or wrong, as some Senate Republican­s have conceded.

McConnell has dodged question about whether Trump’s actions – pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to announce an investigat­ion into Trump’s political rival Joe Biden – were inappropri­ate. He led an effort last week to deny Democrats any opportunit­y to call witnesses before the Senate, and he has worked closely with the Trump White House in shepherdin­g the case through the Senate.

The final days of the trial have focused attention on a handful of senators who were viewed as potential votes to break with their party. GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska called the president’s actions “shameful and wrong” in a powerful speech late Monday, but she also derided the highly partisan process. “I cannot vote to convict,” she said, though she also sees blame within the Senate.

“We are part of the problem, as an institutio­n that cannot see beyond the blind political polarizati­on,” Murkowski told reporters after her speech.

Other Republican­s, such as Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Marco Rubio of Florida and Rob Portman of Ohio, also say Trump’s actions to withhold military aid from Ukraine while pressing Zelenskiy to announce an investigat­ion into Biden and his son Hunter were inappropri­ate, but fell short of warranting his removal from office, especially in an election year.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, perhaps the only Democrat seen as a likely vote to acquit Trump, has floated the idea of censuring Trump instead, though the idea doesn’t seem to be gaining much traction. Sen. Doug Jones, a former federal prosecutor and Democrat seeking reelection in strongly proTrump Alabama, told reporters he’s likely to announce his vote Wednesday morning.

No member of either party has indicated yet that they will break with their party colleagues. Republican­s hold a 5347 majority in the Senate.

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York accused McConnell and his GOP colleagues of sweeping Trump’s misconduct under the rug.

“The administra­tion, its top people and Senate Republican­s are all hiding the truth,” Schumer said. “The charges are extremely serious. To interfere in an election, to blackmail a foreign country, to interfere in our elections gets at the very core of what our democracy is about.”

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the two impeachmen­t articles Wednesday afternoon. Trump is delivering his State of the Union address Tuesday night, a platform in which he appears before Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the powerful House speaker who orchestrat­ed last year’s House impeachmen­t drive.

Also Tuesday on the Senate floor, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., repeated a question that Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial, refused to read last week. Roberts’ staff communicat­ed to McConnell’s staff that he did not want to read the whistleblo­wer’s name, according to a Republican familiar with the situation who wasn’t authorized to speak on the record.

Paul denies trying to out the whistleblo­wer and notes his question didn’t use the word. He questions whether the whistleblo­wer may have conspired with House staff aides in writing the August complaint that triggered impeachmen­t.

U.S. whistleblo­wer laws exist to protect the identity and careers of people who bring forward accusation­s of wrongdoing by government officials. Lawmakers in both parties have historical­ly backed those protection­s.

The Associated Press typically does not reveal the identity of whistleblo­wers.

Separately, Trump’s approval rating, which has generally languished in the mid- to low-40s, hit a new high of 49% in the latest Gallup polling, which was conducted as the Senate trial was drawing to a close. The poll found that 51% of the public views the Republican Party favorably, the first time the GOP’s number has exceeded 50% since 2005.

 ??  ?? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, left, says he will vote Wednesday to acquit the president.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, left, says he will vote Wednesday to acquit the president.

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