Former US President Trump Pulls Weight During First Key Senate Impeachment Vote

Adsense

The vast majority of Republican Senators, on Tuesday January 26, 2021, voted to back Donald Trump; signaling their belief that the former president’s impeachment trial was unconstitutional.

This is also a guarantee the Senate will not have enough votes to convict Trump in the upcoming trial.

According to the Associated Press: "While the Republicans did not succeed in ending the trial before it began, the test vote made clear that Trump still has enormous sway over his party as he becomes the first former president to be tried for impeachment.

Many Republicans have criticized Trump’s alleged role in the Capitol attack, however, most of them have rushed to defend him in the trial.

ALSO READ: President Buhari Signs Bill Making Use Of Face Masks In Public Compulsory

The procedural vote was forced by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who in a fiery floor speech called the impeachment trial a “sham” and demanded that every Senator go on record on whether or not to declare the trial unconstitutional.

While the motion failed 55-45, it showed mostly unified Republican support of Trump and made it appear the Democrats, unlikely, had the necessary votes to convict him in a trial:

Conviction would require the support of all Democrats and 17 Republicans, or two-thirds of the Senate — far from the five Republicans who voted with Democrats on Tuesday to allow the trial to proceed.

“I think this was indicative of where a lot of people’s heads are,” said South Dakota Sen. John Thune.

But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer argued that it “makes no sense” that lawmakers wouldn’t be able to impeach an office holder simply because he resigned or was about to leave office when the offense was committed.

“It makes no sense whatsoever that a president, or any official, could commit a heinous crime against our country and then defeat Congress’ impeachment powers — and avoid a vote on disqualification — by simply resigning, or by waiting to commit that offense until their last few weeks in office,” Schumer said.

Most of the Republican party disagreed, opting to side with Paul’s argument that you could not impeach a former office holder while Democrats were unified in rejecting Paul’s motion.

The five Republicans that sided with Democrats on the vote were Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

Adsense