WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s defenders in the Senate gathered around the former president on Sunday for his impeachment trialby calling it a waste of time and claiming that the former president’s fiery speech before the Capitol uprising does not make him responsible for the violence of January 6.
“If being held accountable means being impeached by the House and condemned by the Senate, the answer is no,” said Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who made it clear he believed Trump should and should. be acquitted. Asked if Congress could consider other punishments, such as censure, Wicker said the Democrat-led House had that option earlier, but rejected in favor of impeaching him.
“That ship has set sail,” he said.
The Senate will initiate impeachment on Tuesday to account for the charge that Trump’s fighting words against protesters at a Capitol rally, as well as weeks of lies about a stolen and faked presidential election, provoked a crowd to storm the Capitol. Five people as a result of the melee, including a police officer.
Many senators, including Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, immediately denounced the violence, pointing an accusing finger at Trump. After the riot, Wicker said Americans “will not stand up to these kinds of attacks on the rule of law” and without naming names, said “we must prosecute” those who undermine democracy.
But now that Trump has left the presidency, Republicans have shown little political appetite for further action, such as an impeachment conviction that could result in his not running for future office. Those partisan divisions appear to be hardening ahead of Trump’s trial, a sign of his continued grip on the GOP.
On Sunday, Wicker described Trump’s impeachment as a “pointless messaging exercise.” When asked if Trump’s behavior deserves more impeachment than President Bill Clinton’s, for whom Wicker voted to impeach, he said, “I do not admit that President Trump instigated an uprising.” Clinton’s accusation, in 1998, was fueled by his false denial in a statement of sexual relations with a White House intern.
Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky dismissed Trump’s trial as a sham with “zero chance of conviction,” describing Trump’s words to protesters to “fight like hell” as Congress voted for Joe Biden’s presidential victory. as a “figurative” speech.
“If we criminalize speech, and somehow accuse anyone who says, ‘Go fight to hear your voices,’ then I really mean we should blame Chuck Schumer,” said Paul, referring to the now Democratic Majority Leader of the Senate and his criticism of Judges Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. He went to the Supreme Court, stood before the Supreme Court, and said specifically, “ Hey Gorsuch, hey Kavanaugh, you’ve unleashed a whirlwind. And you’re going to pay the price. ”
Paul noted that Chief Justice John Roberts had refused to chair this week’s impeachment proceedings because Trump was no longer president. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy will chair the process as pro tempore Senate President.
“It’s a farce, it’s unconstitutional. Most of all, it is unwise to divide the land, ”said Paul.
Last month, Paul forced a vote to set the trial aside as unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office, which legal experts say is moot. But the vote suggested the near impossibility of reaching conviction in a senate where Democrats hold 50 seats, but a two-thirds of the vote – or 67 senators – would be needed to convict Trump. Forty-four Republican senators sided with Paul, voting against holding an impeachment trial. Five Republican senators joined the Democrats to reject Paul’s motion: Mitt Romney from Utah, Ben Sasse from Nebraska, Susan Collins from Maine, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania.
Some Republicans have said the vote does not “bind” them to vote in some way on conviction, with Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy saying on Sunday that he would listen carefully to the evidence. But even Trump’s sharper GOP critics on Sunday acknowledged the widely anticipated outcome.
“You’ve had 45 Republican senators vote to suggest they didn’t think it appropriate to go to trial so you can deduce how likely those people are to vote to convict,” said Toomey, who made it clear. that he believes Trump committed “culpable transgressions.”
“I still think the best outcome would have been if the president stepped down,” before leaving office, he said. “He clearly chose not to.”
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s ardent defenders, said he believes Trump’s actions were wrong and “he will have a place in history for all of this,” but stressed that it is not the job of the Senate is to judge.
“It’s not a question of how the trial will end, it’s a question of when it will end,” said Graham. Republicans will see this as an unconstitutional exercise, and the only question is, will they call witnesses, how long will the trial take? But the result is really not in doubt. “
Wicker spoke on ABC’s “This Week,” Paul was on “Fox News Sunday,” Toomey appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” and Graham was on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
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Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press author, contributed to this report.