Here Are The Seven Republicans Who Voted To Convict Trump
Seven Republican senators voted on Saturday to convict former President Donald J. Trump in the most bipartisan vote for a presidential impeachment conviction in United States history. The margin still fell 10 votes short of the two-thirds needed to find him guilty.
Who are the seven senators? Only one Lisa Murkowski is up for re-election next year, and she has survived attacks from the right before. Two are retiring, and three won new terms in November, so they will not face voters until 2026.
The Gop Impeachment 10 Try To Navigate Cheneys Demise And Their Own Futures
When 10 Republicans voted to impeach President Donald Trump on Jan.13, it marked a historic milestone: It was the most House members from a presidents party to vote to remove him from office.
But since that vote, the 10 lawmakers have cut different paths in grappling with the fallout as they consider their political futures in a party still beholden to Trump.
Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger have made their votes career-defining, arguing that pushing back against Trumps false assertions that the 2020 election was stolen is about protecting democracy and the soul of the Republican Party.
Others, such as Reps. Anthony Gonzalez , Jaime Herrera Beutler and Peter Meijer , have vocally defended their votes and Cheney amid a caucuswide push to oust her from leadership, though they have not sought to make it a marquee issue.
The rest have moved on, even if they stand by their decision, seemingly in line with House GOP leaderships argument that what is important now is opposing President Bidens agenda and regaining the majority in the 2022 midterms, not what happened after the 2020 election.
How an obscure Texas firm helped convince many the election was stolen from Trump
In a letter sent to his Republican colleagues on Monday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said it was time for Cheney to go.
McCarthy backs ousting Cheney from GOP leadership, paving way for removal vote this week
Republicans Who Voted To Acquit Trump Used Questions Of Constitutionality As A Cover
Following the vote, McConnell gave a scathing speech condemning Trumps lies about election fraud as well as his actions on January 6, only moments after he supported acquittal.
That speech was emblematic of how many Republican senators approached the impeachment vote: Although GOP lawmakers were critical of the attack on January 6, they used a process argument about constitutionality in order to evade confronting Trump on his actual actions.
Effectively, because Trump is no longer in office, Republicans say the Senate doesnt have jurisdiction to convict him of the article of impeachment. As Voxs Ian Millhiser explained, theres some debate over that, but most legal scholars maintain that it is constitutional for the Senate to try a former president.
If President Trump were still in office, I would have carefully considered whether the House managers proved their specific charge, McConnell said. McConnell, however, played an integral role in delaying the start of the trial until after Trump was no longer president.
His statement on Saturday was simply a continuation of how Republicans had previously approached Trumps presidency: Theres been an overwhelming hesitation to hold him accountable while he was in office, and that still appears to be the case for many lawmakers.
Donald Trump: Impeached In 2019 And 2021
On October 9, 2019 in Washington, D.C., President Trump answers questions on a pending impeachment inquiry.
On September 24, 2019, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump regarding his alleged efforts to pressure the President of Ukraine to investigate possible wrongdoings by his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
The decision to authorize the impeachment inquiry came after a leaked whistleblower complaint detailed a July phone conversation between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump allegedly tied Ukrainian military aid to personal political favors. The White House later released a reconstructed of the phone call, which many Democrats argued demonstrated that Trump had violated the Constitution.
On December 18, 2019, President Trump became the third U.S. president in history to be impeached as the House of Representatives voted nearly along party lines to impeach him over abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. No Republicans voted in favor of either article of impeachment, while three Democrats voted against one or both.On February 5, 2020, the Senate largely along party lines to acquit Trump on both charges.
Rep Dan Newhouse Washington
Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washingtons 4th Congressional District on Wednesday voted to impeach Trump shortly after announcing his decision to do so on the House floor.
These articles of impeachment are flawed, but I will not use process as an excuse for President Trumps actions, Newhouse said.
The president took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Last week there was a domestic threat at the door of the Capitol and he did nothing to stop it.
In a separate statement released the same day, Newhouse said Trump did not strongly condemn the attack nor did he call in reinforcements when our officers were overwhelmed. Our country needed a leader, and President Trump failed to fulfill his oath of office.
Washington Rep Dan Newhouse
Newhouse was first elected during a Republican wave in 2014. He beat a Democratic challenger by 33 points in November, solidly overperforming Trumps 18-point win in Washingtons agricultural 4th District. He serves on the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee with Herrera Beutler.
A vote against this impeachment is a vote to validate the unacceptable violence we witnessed in our nations capital, he said in a statement. It is also a vote to condone the presidents inaction.
Newhouses views have not always aligned with Trumps on key issues, but he has modified positions in response to the Trump administrations actions. He was a strong supporter of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program but said after the Trump administration ended the program that it was never the long-term answer. He is concerned about the national debt but voted for the 2017 GOP tax overhaul that contributed to its increase. He has had a 90 percent presidential unity score during the Trump administration. But on Wednesday, he said Trump failed when the country needed a leader.
Andrew Johnson: Impeached In 1868
The 1868 impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson.
Johnson was elected as Abraham Lincolns vice president in 1864. The toughest decision facing Lincolns second term was how to reestablish ties with the Confederate states now that the Civil War was over. Lincolns plan for favored leniency while so-called Radical Republicans in his party wanted to punish Southern politicians and extend full civil rights to freed slaves.
Lincoln was only 42 days into his second term, leaving Johnson in charge of Reconstruction. He immediately clashed with the Radical Republicans in Congress, calling for pardons for Confederate leaders and vetoing political rights for freedmen. In 1867, Congress retaliated by passing the Tenure of Office Act, which barred the president from replacing members of his cabinet without Senate approval.
Believing the law to be unconstitutional, Johnson went ahead and fired his Secretary of War, an ally of the Radical Republicans in Congress. Johnsons political enemies responded by drafting and passing 11 articles of impeachment in the House.
“Sir, the bloody and untilled fields of the ten unreconstructed States, the unsheeted ghosts of the two thousand murdered negroes in Texas, cry for the punishment of Andrew Johnson,” wrote the abolitionist Republican Representative William D. Kelley from Pennsylvania.
READ MORE: 150 Years Ago, a President Could Be Impeached for Firing a Cabinet Member
A 2/3 Majority Is Needed In The Senate To Remove Trump
Getty
A 2/3 majority of the Senates 100 members would need to vote to for the President to be removed from office before Trump would actually be removed. Like former President Bill Clinton, he could be impeached but never actually removed from office.
That 2/3 majority would be tough to get. A total of 67 Senators would need to vote to convict and remove Trump. There are 45 Democrat Senators and 53 Republican Senators, plus two Independents who typically vote Democrat. So to reach the 67 total needed to remove Trump, they would need at least 20 Republicans to join with Democrats in voting to remove Trump ,Reuters reported.
It will likely be really tough to get 20 Republicans to agree to vote to remove Trump.
Before the vote, there would be a trial with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presiding. The House of Representatives would essentially act as the prosecutor, Vox reported, and the Presidents lawyers would be the defense. Witnesses are deposed and sometimes live witness testimony also occurs.
Sen. Chris Murphy has said that he only knows of a handful of Republicans who might vote to remove Trump, The Hill reported. He wouldnt name them, but he said some in the Senate were considering it, but it was a small list that could be counted on one hand.
He also said that an anonymous removal vote wouldnt be appropriate and, even if it happened, only a handful of Republicans would still consider voting to remove Trump.
Republicans Vote To Convict Trump In Impeachment Trial
WASHINGTON Seven Republicans voted Saturday to convict former President Donald Trump in his Senate trial, easily the largest number of lawmakers to ever vote to find a president of their own party guilty at impeachment proceedings.
While lawmakers acquitted Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, they voted 57-43 to convict him short of the two-thirds majority needed to find him guilty. Still, with seven Republicans joining all 50 Democrats in voting guilty, the Senate issued an unmistakable bipartisan chorus of condemnation of the former president that could have political implications for a GOP conflicted over its future.
If I cant say what I believe that our president should stand for, then why should I ask Alaskans to stand with me? Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told reporters.
Besides Murkowski, other Republican senators voting against Trump were Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Underscoring the perils of affronting Trump and his legions of GOP loyalists, by late evening top Republicans from at least two of the defecting senators states had blasted them.
Here Are The 7 Republicans Who Voted To Convict Trump
Trump acquitted by the Senate29:52
Seven Republican senators voted to convictformer President Trump on the charge of incitement to insurrection, joining Democrats to make it it a far more bipartisan vote than Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial. But the final vote of 57-43 fell short of the 67 votes that would have been needed for conviction.
The Republicans voting to convict were Senators Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Romney’s vote was all but a given, and the votes from Collins and Murkowski weren’t unexpected. Perhaps the most surprising vote came from Burr.
But something distinguishes most of the Republicans who voted to convict Mr. Trump most of them aren’t up for reelection soon. Murkowski is the only one of the group facing reelection in 2022. Burr and Toomey aren’t running for another term.
Collins and Murkowski asked some of the most probing questions on Friday when senators had the chance to pose questions to the defense and to the House impeachment managers.
Collins, Murkowski, Romney and Sasse also joined Democrats in voting to call witnesses Saturday, as did Repubilcan Senator Lindsey Graham. But Democrats ultimately backed off on calling witnesses.
Several of the senators released statements explaining their decisions following the vote Saturday.
Patrick J Toomey Of Pennsylvania
Mr. Toomey, 59, a senator since 2011, is not seeking re-election in 2022. He had denounced Mr. Trumps conduct; in a statement on Saturday, he said had decided during the trial that the former president deserved to be found guilty.
I listened to the arguments on both sides, Mr. Toomey said, and I thought the arguments in favor of conviction were much stronger.
Partial Retraction From Starr
In January 2020, while testifying as a defense lawyer for U.S. President Donald Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial, Starr himself would retract some of the allegations he made to justify Clinton’s impeachment. Slate journalist Jeremy Stahl pointed out that as he was urging the Senate not to remove Trump as president, Starr contradicted various arguments he used in 1998 to justify Clinton’s impeachment. In defending Trump, Starr also claimed he was wrong to have called for impeachment against Clinton for abuse of executive privilege and efforts to obstruct Congress, and stated that the House Judiciary Committee was right in 1998 to have rejected one of the planks for impeachment he had advocated for. He also invoked a 1999 Hofstra Law Review article by Yale law professor Akhil Amar, who argued that the Clinton impeachment proved just how impeachment and removal causes “grave disruption” to a national election.
Rep Liz Cheney Wyoming
The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack, Cheney wrote. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not.
Cheney is the highest-ranking House member to vote for Trumps impeachment.
South Carolina Rep Tom Rice
Rices vote for impeachment stunned those familiar with the South Carolina lawmakers record as a staunch Trump defender, especially during his first impeachment.
I have backed this President through thick and thin for four years. I campaigned for him and voted for him twice, Ricesaid in a statementWednesday evening. But, this utter failure is inexcusable.
Rice voted for motions to object to certifying Bidens Electoral College victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania last week, votes that came after security teams cleared the building of rioters and members returned from a secure location. Rice told local media he waited until the last minute to cast those votes because he was extremely disappointed in the president after the riots and that Trump needed to concede the election. He also said last week that he did not support impeaching the president or invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.
Rice, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, has supported the Trump administrations position 94 percent of the time over the past four years. He represents a solidly Republican district in the Myrtle Beach area that Trump carried by 19 points in November. Rice, who has had little difficulty holding his seat since his first 2012 victory, won his race by 24 points in November.
Here Are The 10 Republicans Who Voted To Impeach Trump After The Capitol Riot
Tala Michel Issa, Al Arabiya English
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Ten Republicans of the US House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump after rioters stormed the Capitol building last week, making him the first president in US history to be impeached twice.
Trumps support within the Republican party appears to be wavering. While only 10 Republicans voted for impeachment, during Trumps first impeachment in 2019 the party closed ranks, with zero votes for impeachment at the time.
All House Democrats voted in favor of the impeachment; 197 Republicans voted against it. The 10 Republican votes for this impeachment trial made history as the tally exceeded the previous record of five Democrat votes during Bill Clintons 1988 impeachment trial.
The US House of Representatives, the lower house of Congress, first decide if a President should be impeached. If the house finds in favor the Senate, the upper house of Congress, will then hold a trial overseen by the US chief justice.
The Senates response to the presidents second impeachment is yet to be determined. In order to render a guilty verdict, 17 Republicans would have to join .
As of yet, only a small number of Republican senators have shown interest in potentially convicting Trump in a Senate trial. The trial would begin after Trump has left office and after President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office on January 20.
Liz Cheney John Katko And Dan Newhouse Among 10 House Republicans Who Voted In Favour Of Motion
The U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump a second time on Wednesday. The House voted 232-197 in favour of an unprecedented second impeachment just one week after the violence at the U.S. Capitol.
Those 232 votes were cast in favour of the bill by 222 Democrats along with 10 Republicans, members of Trump’s own party.
The Republicansinclude:
Republican Groups Censure Party Lawmakers Who Voted To Impeach Convict Trump
Kinzinger said 11 family members sent him a handwritten two-page note that started, Oh my, what a disappointment you are to us and to God!The letter accused him of working with the devils army, which it said included Democrats and the fake news media.We thought you were smart enough to see how the left is brainwashing many so called good people including yourself and other Republicans. You have even fallen for their socialism ideals! So, so sad!It is now most embarrassing to us that we are related to you, the family members wrote. You have embarrassed the Kinzinger family name.Kinzinger said the family members suffered from brainwashing at conservative churches.I hold nothing against them, he said, but I have zero desire or feel the need to reach out and repair that. That is 100% on them to reach out and repair, and quite honestly, I dont care if they do or not.Kinzinger said he knows his vote against Trump could imperil his political career but that he couldn’t live with myself if the one time I was called to do a really tough duty, I didn’t do it.
Why Is Trump On Trial
Trumps second impeachment stems from his involvement in whipping up a mob on 6 January that went on to assault the Capitol building while a joint session of Congress was convened to certify Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. The invasion of the Capitol led to five deaths and the temporary suspension of the vote certification until the assailants could be removed. The House voted to impeach him for a second time a week after the events and just a little over a week from him leaving office.
GOP Sen. Mitt Romney says his impeachment vote will be “based upon the facts and the evidence as is presented.”Romney also says he believes “that what is being alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense. If not? what is?”
Nearly All Gop Senators Vote Against Impeachment Trial For Trump Signaling Likely Acquittal
All but five Republican senators backed former president Donald Trump on Tuesday in a key test vote ahead of his impeachment trial, signaling that the proceedings are likely to end with Trumps acquittal on the charge that he incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The vote also demonstrated the continued sway Trump holds over GOP officeholders, even after his exit from the White House under a historic cloud caused by his refusal to concede the November election and his unprecedented efforts to challenge the result.
Trumps trial is not scheduled to begin until Feb. 9, but senators were sworn in for the proceedings Tuesday, and they immediately voted on an objection raised by Sen. Rand Paul questioning the constitutional basis for the impeachment and removal of a former president.
Impeachment is for removal from office, and the accused here has already left office, he argued, adding that the trial would drag our great country down into the gutter of rancor and vitriol, the likes of which has never been seen in our nations history.
But Democrats argue that Trump must be held accountable for the riot, which saw the Capitol overrun and resulted in the deaths of one police officer and four rioters. Pauls argument, they said, suggests that presidents can act with impunity late in their terms.
The final vote was 55 to 45 to kill Pauls objection, with GOP Sens. Susan Collins , Lisa Murkowski , Mitt Romney , Ben Sasse and Patrick J. Toomey joining all 50 Democrats.
Michigan Rep Fred Upton
Upton, an 18-term lawmaker who previously held the gavel of the Energy and Commerce Committee, is something of an endangered species on Capitol Hill: a relatively moderate Republican who isnt afraid to cross the aisle to vote with Democrats. Fellow lawmakers and outsiders who lobby Upton say hes a pragmatist. Hes part of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group working to build consensus on legislation.
The former committee chairmans 6th District, nestled in the states touristy southwestern corner that includes Lake Michigan shoreline as well as Kalamazoo, voted 51 percent for Trump in 2020, according to Daily Kos Elections. Upton won reelection with 56 percent of the vote last year. Since 2017, the longtime congressman voted in line with Trumps position on legislation 78 percent of the time, according to CQ Vote Watch.
The 6 Senate Republicans To Watch On Impeachment
When it comes to this weeks impeachment trial, the Senate Republican conference is poised to stay pretty united, barring a handful of exceptions. Most Republicans, after all, have signaled that they wont vote to convict former President Donald Trump, while only a few have indicated an openness to considering it.
During a vote on the constitutionality of the proceedings a few weeks ago, five Republican senators joined Democrats to affirm that they believed the trial should be allowed to move forward. Those lawmakers Sens. Mitt Romney , Susan Collins , Lisa Murkowski , Pat Toomey , and Ben Sasse are seen as the most likely to potentially support conviction. Sen. Bill Cassidy joined them in another vote on the constitutionality question at the start of the trial Tuesday, saying afterward he was unimpressed by the Trump teams arguments.
The bulk of the party, however, is either maintaining that the trial itself is unconstitutional or arguing that Trumps actions are not enough to merit impeachment. I think Im ready to move on. Im ready to end the impeachment trial, because I think its blatantly unconstitutional, Sen. Lindsey Graham said during a recent interview on CBS.
The outcome is really not in doubt, Graham noted.
‘a Win Is A Win’: Trump’s Defense Team Makes Remarks After Senate Votes To Acquit
Despite the acquittal, President Joe Biden said in a statement that “substance of the charge” against Trump is “not in dispute.”
“Even those opposed to the conviction, like Senate Minority Leader McConnell, believe Donald Trump was guilty of a ‘disgraceful dereliction of duty’ and ‘practically and morally responsible for provoking’ the violence unleashed on the Capitol,” Biden’s statement read in part.
The president added that “this sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile. That it must always be defended. That we must be ever vigilant. That violence and extremism has no place in America. And that each of us has a duty and responsibility as Americans, and especially as leaders, to defend the truth and to defeat the lies.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called Saturday’s vote the largest and most bipartisan vote in any impeachment trial in history,” but noted it wasn’t enough to secure a conviction.
The trial “was about choosing country over Donald Trump, and 43 Republican members chose Trump. They chose Trump. It should be a weight on their conscience today, and it shall be a weight on their conscience in the future,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor.
With control of the Senate split 50-50, the House managers always had an uphill battle when it came to convincing enough Republicans to cross party lines and convict a former president who is still very popular with a large part of the GOP base.
