GOP state parties strike back against Republican senators who voted 'guilty' in Trump impeachment trial



After seven Republican senators voted on Saturday to convict former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, at least two state GOP organizations rebuked their own senator.

What is the background?

Although Trump was acquitted on Saturday by a vote of 57-43, falling short of the 67-vote threshold needed to convict, seven Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues in determining that Trump was "guilty" of "incitement of insurrection" stemming from the deadly violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Those Republican senators were: Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.), Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Mitt Romney (Utah), Ben Sasse (Neb.), and Pat Toomey (Penn.).

What was the response?

Burr and Cassidy were swiftly rebuked by their state parties after their vote.

In fact, the Louisiana Republican Party wasted no time censuring Cassidy.

"The Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Louisiana has unanimously voted to censure Senator Bill Cassidy for his vote cast earlier today to convict former President Donald J. Trump on the impeachment charge," the Louisiana Republican Party said in a brief statement.

Cassidy explained his vote, saying, "Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person."

Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because… https://t.co/yjYrlcun7j
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D.)1613250549.0

Meanwhile, the North Carolina Republican Party also rebuked Burr for his vote.

"North Carolina Republicans sent Senator Burr to the United States Senate to uphold the Constitution and his vote today to convict in a trial that he declared unconstitutional is shocking and disappointing," NCGOP Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement.

Barr also explained why he voted to convict.

"The evidence is compelling that President Trump is guilty of inciting an insurrection against a coequal branch of government and that the charge rises to the level of high Crimes and Misdemeanors. Therefore, I have voted to convict," Barr said in a statement. "I do not make this decision lightly, but I believe it is necessary."

Anything else?

Only two of the seven Republicans who voted to convict will be up for re-election within the next four years: Murkowski in 2022 and Romney in 2024.

On the other hand, Sasse, Cassidy, and Collins were just re-elected, while Burr and Toomey will retire at the conclusion of their terms.

Democrats get torched by their own after caving on calling witnesses during Trump's impeachment trial



Democratic lawmakers were scorned by their own supporters on Saturday after they reached an agreement with Senate Republicans to not call witnesses in former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

What happened?

Early on Saturday, the Senate voted 55-45 to call witnesses in the trial, which would have indefinitely extended the proceedings against Trump.

As TheBlaze reported, lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) had expressed interest subpoenaing Rep. Herrera Beutler (R-Wa.) to testify about a conversation between Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that took place during the Capitol Riots.

However, Democrats quickly caved, reaching an agreement to not call witnesses, which meant Trump's trial ended on Saturday.

Indeed, the former president, though twice impeached, has been now twice acquitted.

The result on Saturday was more bipartisan than before. Seven Republicans voted "guilty," whereas only one Republican senator — Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) — voted guilty in Trump's first trial. Even then, Romney only voted "guilty" on one of the charges against Trump at the time.

What was the reaction?

Democrats were panned by their own supporters for retreating on calling witnesses.

  • "This is retreat. White flag. Malpractice. Completely unstrategic. They just closed the door on others who may have stepped out, as @HerreraBeutler urged last night. Just when we thought Dems were being bold and strategic. This is grabbing lameness out of the jaws of boldness," one person said.
  • "Democrats are so embarrassing," another person said.
  • "Wait. The idiot Democrats decided NOT to call witnesses? See, this is why they are stuck on stupid. They don't know how to play hardball. They allowed the GOP to punk them. When you play to win, you PLAY TO WIN. This is sorry ass leadership," another person reacted.
  • "We f***ing had them and the House Managers caved. If the situation had been reversed, the GOP would have jammed so many witnesses down our throats just to run up the score. I'm so sick of Democrats always acting like losers," another person responded.
  • "And the Democrats just folded. Why do we even bother?" another person said.
  • "Once again, Democrats bring a butter knife to a gunfight," one person responded.
  • "Omg. No witnesses. That's insane. It's like stopping short at the 5 yard line. How unbelievably disappointing," another person said.
  • "I cannot believe that @TheDemocrats just gave up on trying to convict a President who literally incited an insurrection at the United States Capitol. How are you not going to give that fight everything you've got? Stand for something, dammit," another person responded.
  • "Truly no one is worse at politics than Senate Democrats," one person said.
  • "This is so weak," Meena Harris, the niece of Vice President Kamala Harris, reacted.
Al Drago/Getty Images

This Impeachment Is A Disgraceful Sham

It’s almost as though the Democrats and their sycophantic allies in the media don’t know what to do if they can’t keep tap, tap, Tappering away at the bad orange man.

Mitt Romney claims 'truth and justice' require Senate to hold impeachment trial against Trump



Republican Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) claimed Sunday that the Senate will conduct a second impeachment trial against now-former President Donald Trump in order to uphold "truth and justice."

What did Romney say?

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Romney told show host Chris Wallace that an impeachment trial is necessary to hold Trump accountable for the deadly violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, as well as his controversial call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

In fact, Romney said "truth and justice" demand another trial.

"Well, we're certainly going to have a trial. I wish that weren't necessary, but the president's conduct with regards to the call to Secretary of State Raffensperger in Georgia as well as the incitation towards the insurrection that led to the attack on the Capitol call for a trial," Romney said.

"And, you know, if we're going to have unity in our country, I think it's important to recognize the need for accountability, for truth and justice," the Utah senator added.

Romney, of course, did not reveal how he would vote during the trial. But Romney did say that the article of impeachment passed by the House two weeks ago "suggests impeachable conduct."

"I will do my best as a Senate juror to apply justice as well as I can understand it," Romney promised.

Romney went on to say:

I think it's pretty clear that over the last year or so there has been an effort to corrupt the election in the United States. It was not by President Biden, it was by President Trump.That corruption we saw with regards to the conduct in Ukraine, as well as the call to Secretary of State Raffensperger, as well as the incitation to insurrection. This is obviously very serious and an attack on the very foundation of our democracy and is something which has to be considered and resolved.

What's the background?

Despite the fact that Trump is no longer president, the Senate will begin the impeachment trial on Feb. 8, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

However, the effort will unlikely end in Trump's conviction because the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote for conviction, meaning 67 senators would have to vote in favor of convicting Trump. The Senate is currently split 50-50, which means 17 Republicans would have to support conviction.

In Trump's first Senate trial, Romney was the only Republican senator who voted for conviction.

Meanwhile, other Democratic lawmakers have suggested leveraging the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment to bar Trump from ever holding office again.

McConnell reportedly nixes emergency Senate impeachment trial



Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) reportedly said Wednesday he would not bring back the Senate under emergency circumstances this week to begin a second impeachment trial against President Donald Trump.

What are the details?

On Wednesday — as the House prepared to impeach the president on "incitement of insurrection" charges — McConnell's office reportedly reached out to incoming Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to inform him that the Senate would not call an emergency session to try Trump on impeachment charges despite urging from Democrats.

The news was first reported by Washington Post reporter Seung Min Kim and was confirmed shortly after by Axios' Alayna Treene.

NEWS —> McConnell’s office called Schumer’s people today + told them McConnell would not consent to reconvening imm… https://t.co/1bwPtk87tV
— Seung Min Kim (@Seung Min Kim)1610560328.0

The news came just as a Reuters report indicated that Republican leaders in the Senate had met on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of starting the impeachment trial on Friday. Should a trial begin this week, it would raise the potential for the Senate to vote to remove Trump from office before his term ends on Jan. 20.

McConnell had previously cast doubt on the possibility, informing Republican colleagues in a memo that the Senate "will not reconvene for substantive business until Jan. 19, which means the earliest possible date that impeachment trial proceedings can begin in the Senate is the day before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated."

But the New York Times reported Tuesday that the majority leader is "pleased" with Democratic efforts to impeach the president and believes the move could help "purge" the president from the Republican Party. McConnell's office declined to comment on the report.

What's the background?

The Constitution dictates that a trial is automatically triggered in the Senate when the House of Representatives votes to approve an impeachment resolution. If two-thirds of the Senate then votes to convict on the impeachment charges, the president is formally removed from office.

Given the current numbers, at least 17 Republicans in the Senate would need to vote to convict to find Trump guilty.

On Wednesday, the House convened to vote on single article of impeachment filed against the president, charging that he "willfully incited violence against the government" by rousing a mob of his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol in protest of a fraudulent election.

A week earlier, as members of Congress convened to certify Biden's Electoral College victory, Trump spoke to hundreds of thousands of supporters gathered in Washington, D.C., telling them that the election was "rigged" and asking them to march over "to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make [their] voices heard."

As the crowd approached the Capitol, hundreds of riotous Trump supporters started fighting with police and ultimately stormed into the Capitol Building. The incident resulted in the deaths of at least five people and injuries to several more.

In the aftermath of the riot, lawmakers from both parties have blamed Trump's rhetoric for the violence, though only a handful of Republicans in either chamber have signified support for impeachment.

HotAir suggested that McConnell likely would have launched the trial early had the Republican votes been there.