Six Republican senators on Tuesday joined 50 Democrats in voting to proceed with the impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump, forming a contingent far smaller than what could be wanted to convict Mr. Trump of “incitement of rebellion” associated to the riot on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The six Republicans have been Senators Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania.
The vote addressed the constitutional query of whether or not the Senate has the ability to strive Mr. Trump regardless that he has left workplace.
The end result largely mirrored the tally final month, when the Senate voted to kill an try and dismiss the trial as unconstitutional. 5 Republicans had joined all 50 Democrats in help of going forward with the trial, although others later stated they have been nonetheless open to listening to the case and described their votes as a name for extra debate on the constitutionality of the trial.
However ultimately, the lone senator to change sides was Mr. Cassidy. Chatting with reporters after the vote on Tuesday, he praised the Home impeachment managers for his or her presentation and panned the efficiency of Mr. Trump’s authorized staff.
“They did every thing they might however to speak concerning the query at hand,” he stated. “And after they talked about it, they form of glided over it, nearly as in the event that they have been embarrassed of their arguments.”
He continued, “Now if I’m an neutral juror, and one aspect is doing an excellent job and the opposite aspect is doing a horrible job on the difficulty at hand, as an neutral juror, I’m going to vote for the aspect that did the great job.”
Just like the vote in January, the one on Tuesday signaled that Mr. Trump was all however sure to be acquitted. Seventeen Republicans would wish to hitch all 50 Democrats to achieve the two-thirds threshold for convicting the previous president.