Republicans came together late Tuesday to protect the former president who endangered their lives by inciting his seditious followers to attack the US Capitol in an effort to overturn the 2020 election results. All but five of them — Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) — voted against moving forward with an impeachment trial, sending a strong signal that there would not be enough votes to convict Donald Trump for “incitement of insurrection.”
The NYT reports: “It would take two thirds of senators — 67 votes — to attain a conviction, meaning 17 Republicans would have to cross party lines to side with Democrats in finding him guilty. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, is said to believe Mr. Trump committed impeachable offenses surrounding the deadly Capitol siege, had asserted that the former president “provoked” the mob, and had said he was undecided on the charge. Yet he voted with the vast majority of the party to uphold the constitutional challenge, which would have effectively terminated the trial if it had prevailed. His entire leadership team joined him.”
