GOP Senators/McConnell Will Acquit Trump

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will most likely allow an impeachment trial and end it with a vote to acquit the president.

Acquittal over Dismissal

Acquittal has several good points over a vote to dismiss the articles of impeachment, one being the charges raised against President Trump would be once and for all cleared, while a dismissal could end up in a tie, with “all the recriminations that would flow from that,” Sen. John Cornyn told CNN.

Dismissing the articles would take a 51-vote majority, while 67 are required to convict the president, a number very unlikely to be reached. An anonymous Republican senator reached out to CNN to comment on the issue, saying that McConnell would not call a vote on the articles unless he has the 51 votes required to end the trial in his pocket.

Vice President Mike Pence’s vote is one that is quite shaky though, due to a conflict of interests. As president of the Senate, he has the mandate to break ties on legislation and nomination, but when it comes to impeaching the president, Pence can’t vote because he’d be the one to replace Trump should he be removed from his position.

“It could go down the path of calling witnesses and basically having another trial or it could decide – and again, 51 members could make that decision – that they’ve heard enough and believe they know what would happen and could move to vote on the two articles of impeachment. Those are the options. No decisions have been made yet,” McConnell told reporters on Tuesday, hinting at the acquittal strategy.