Forty-five Republicans in the US on Tuesday backed a failed effort to halt former US president Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, in a show of party unity that some cited as a clear sign that he would not be convicted of inciting insurrection at the US Capitol.
US Senator Rand Paul, a Republican, made a motion on the Senate floor that would have required the chamber to vote on whether Trump’s trial in February contravenes the US constitution.
The Democratic-led Senate blocked the motion in a 55-45 vote, but only five Republican lawmakers joined Democrats to reject the move, far short of the 17 Republicans who would need to vote to convict Trump on an impeachment charge that he incited the Jan. 6 Capitol assault, which left five people dead.
Photo: Reuters
“It’s one of the few times in Washington where a loss is actually a victory,” Paul told reporters. “Forty-five votes means the impeachment trial is dead on arrival.”
Paul and other Republicans contend that the proceedings are unconstitutional because Trump left office on Wednesday last week and the trial would be overseen by US Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democratic, instead of by US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
Leahy, 80, was on Tuesday evening briefly hospitalized after not feeling well, but was released after an examination, his spokesman David Carle said in a statement.
Some Republican senators who backed Paul’s motion said that their vote on Tuesday did not indicate how they might come down on Trump’s guilt or innocence after a trial.
“It’s a totally different issue as far as I’m concerned,” US Senator Rob Portman, a Republican, told reporters.
The senators voted after being sworn in as jurors for the impeachment trial.
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who moved to thwart Paul’s motion, dismissed the Republican constitutional claim as “flat-out wrong,” and said that it would provide “a constitutional get-out-of-jail-free card” for presidents guilty of misconduct.
There is debate among academics over whether the Senate can hold a trial for Trump now that he has left office.
Many experts have said that “late impeachment” is constitutional, as presidents who engage in misconduct late in their terms should not be immune from the very process set out in the constitution for holding them accountable.
The constitution makes clear that impeachment proceedings can result in disqualification from holding office in the future, so there is still an active issue for the Senate to resolve, those academics have said.
US Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who has been critical of Trump, rejected Paul’s move.
“My review of it has led me to conclude that it is constitutional, in recognizing that impeachment is not solely about removing a president, it is also a matter of political consequence,” Murkowski told.
She joined US senators Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Ben Sasse and Patrick Toomey in opposing Paul.
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