Multiple GOP Lawmakers Oppose Senate Impeachment Trial

Many Republican lawmakers are opposed to Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, which significantly decreases Democrats’ chances to convict the former president of inciting the Capitol riot.

The Democrats are submitting the charge to the Senate on Monday, however, it looks like the GOP accusations have already lulled, and Republican senators are acting in Trump’s defense.

Sen. Marco Rubio stated that “the trial is stupid” and “counterproductive,” and he would vote to end it because it would be bad for the US.

The impeachment trial discussions are set to begin during the first week of February after both party leaders agreed to allow Donald Trump to build his legal defense. 

As Democrats already virtually control the Senate, an early vote for dismissing the trial is not considered an option.  

Donald Trump was first impeached exactly a week after the Capitol riots on January 6.  According to Sen. Tom Cotton, the Senate has no constitutional authority to convict the former president after he has left his post, and many Republican senators are “beginning to line up” behind that argument.

Although the Democrats overruled Cotton’s argument, they are not close to the number needed for convicting Trump of “incitement of insurrection.”

Apart from Tom Cotton, other senators including Sen. Mitt Romney, Sen. Mike Rounds, Sen. John Cornyn, and Sen. John Barrasso opposed Donald Trump’s impeachment, stating that the trial is a “moot point” after a president's term is over “and they should do “what is best for the country” instead of choosing “vindictiveness” over national security.

At the same time, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called what she considers Trump’s encouragement of his supporters before the siege "an extraordinarily heinous presidential crime."