Forty-four Republicans voted against former President Donald Trump's trial, the clearest indication yet that the Senate will finally acquit him for the second time of the impeachment proceedings.
44 Republicans voted against Trump's impeachment trial
On Tuesday, three Republican Senators suggested that the vote is a predictor of how many Senators will vote to acquit the former President after the trial.
"Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said, "I tend to assume that it will be very doubtful that there will be anywhere near enough for conviction."
Cramer added that it takes some mental gymnastics to consider this to be an unconstitutional action on the one hand, and to consider conviction to be part of it on the other hand," The Hil reported.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said if any Republicans changed their minds during the trial, he would be "very surprised." According to The Hill, Hawley said, "If you think you don't have authority, you can't go on and say, Well, we don't have authority, but I guess I'm going to go ahead and convict anyway."
He added that he would be surprised if many people change their minds on the underlying question of whether to oppose a penalty or not.
The vote on Tuesday mirrors the one cast last month when 45 Republicans voted to declare that the trial is unconstitutional. On January 13, House Democrats were joined by 10 Republicans and voted to impeach Trump on a single charge of inciting an insurrection, alleging that on January 6, the former President led a mob that breached the Capitol.
According to The Epoch Times, Trump refuted the allegations. In a speech delivered on the Capitol violation day, the President told supporters to make their voices heard "peacefully and patriotically."
"I will vote the way I voted the other day in the courtroom," Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said, as per The Hill. "I don't think it's lawful, I don't think we need to be doing it," he added.
On Tuesday, the impeachment administrators and Trump's lawyers spent about four hours telling the senators that the trial is constitutional. The impeachment managers' core argument was that if the Senate did not prosecute a sitting president, then presidents would have a so-called "January exception" during their last days in office to commit impeachable offences, believing that they could not be charged. The proposal was deemed "nonsense" by the defense lawyers.
"If, in truth, my friends on this side of the chamber believe President Trump committed a criminal crime... you go and arrest him after he's out of office. So, by the close of his tenure in January, there is no possibility for the President of the United States to run rampant and then go away scot-free. The Department of Justice knows what to do for those people," said Bruce Castor, Trump's counsel.
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McConnell says finding Trump guilty is 'vote of conscience'
Once again, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell signaled to fellow Senate Republicans that former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial is a 'vote of conscience.' McConnell allegedly indicated that senators who challenged the trial's constitutionality could also vote to prosecute the former President, three outlets told Bloomberg News.
McConnell also indicated that, after having voted on Tuesday to make it unconstitutional for the Senate to hear the case, he has not yet decided how he will vote on finding Trump guilty, the outlet said.
On Tuesday, only six Republicans voted against the party line, in favor of the Senate trial's constitutionality, as per Daily Mail on MSN.
