Mitch McConnell is telling GOP senators their decision on a Trump impeachment trial conviction is a 'vote of conscience'

Authored by businessinsider.com and submitted by mar_kelp
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been emailing senators to tell them their decision on whether to convict President Donald Trump during the upcoming impeachment trial will be a "vote of conscience," North Dakota GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer told Insider in an exclusive interview.

Cramer said he didn't want Trump impeached. But he's also not sure he wants the president ever serving in federal office again after placing democracy in jeopardy, he said.

"A conviction of Trump may mean he doesn't run again, but it doesn't mean he gives up without a fight," Cramer told Insider. "I don't know that impeachment sends a message that's a winning message to our base."

Cramer and others have been buzzing about a legal assessment from retired federal Judge J. Michael Luttig saying the Senate can't hold an impeachment trial once Trump leaves office.

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is telling his Republican colleagues they have the freedom to vote however they want during the upcoming impeachment trial for Donald Trump after the lame-duck president incited a deadly January 6 riot at the US Capitol.

"His message to me was this would clearly be a vote of conscience," Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, told Insider. "He's always been respectful of members that way."

The Senate could start its trial of the president as early as Wednesday, the same day as President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. Under the Senate rules, the upper chamber must prioritize the Trump trial once the House officially delivers its article of impeachment charging Trump with inciting rioters who stormed the Capitol. So far, that hasn't happened, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday declined to say when Democrats were planning to make the formal handoff.

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In anticipation of the trial, GOP sources close to McConnell and the White House said earlier this week the Kentucky Republican might vote to convict Trump as a means to bar him from ever serving in federal office again. McConnell later told other senators he hadn't made up his mind and wanted to listen to the legal arguments before coming to any conclusions.

Cramer, a former House Republican and early supporter of Trump in 2016 who stuck with him through his one term in office, said he didn't want to vote to convict Trump. But he said he might be open to voting in favor of barring Trump from serving in office again after last week's attack.

Such a vote to permanently end Trump's federal government career requires just a simple majority, but it would happen only if two-thirds of the Senate voted to convict Trump. That has never before occurred to a president in more than 230 years of US history.

A rioter sits in the Senate president's chair on January 6. Win McNamee/Getty Images

GOP senator calls riot 'an assault' on republic

The domestic attack on the Capitol has lawmakers from both parties rattled ahead of Biden's inauguration, where about 20,000 National Guard troops have set up camp in and around the nation's seat of legislative power.

"This is the representative republic at work, and it was such an assault — it was an assault on that very day's work," Cramer said in the interview on Thursday.

But the senator acknowledged that Republicans like him were also worried about backlash from Trump and his supporters as the impeachment trial approached. Some GOP lawmakers have faced death threats from Trump supporters, and they've purchased body armor for protection.

Now they're weighing whether convicting Trump would chasten him or empower him.

"A conviction of Trump may mean he doesn't run again, but it doesn't mean he gives up without a fight," Cramer said. "All my pro-Trump Republican friends want to take my head off for not blowing up the Constitution."

The House voted 232-197 Wednesday to impeach Trump for his role in urging rioters to storm the Capitol, making him the only president to be impeached twice. All 222 of the House's Democrats and 10 Republicans supported the impeachment.

Spokespeople for Trump did not immediately return a request for comment Friday. A McConnell spokesman declined comment for this story.

US Chief Justice John Roberts presided over President Donald Trump's first impeachment trial in early 2020. He'll be back again for the next one. Senate Television via AP

Senate Republicans have also been debating behind the scenes whether an impeachment trial is even technically allowed considering Trump will no longer hold office after noon on January 20.

Making the rounds among GOP offices is an argument espoused by J. Michael Luttig, a former federal appellate-court judge who wrote in The Washington Post this week that the Senate couldn't try an official once they've left office.

"That Senate trial would be unconstitutional," Luttig said.

Luttig's viewpoint isn't going unchallenged. Jeffrey Rosen, a constitutional scholar, said Friday in Politico's Playbook newsletter that the discretion for holding the trial lied solely with the Senate.

It's unclear how many Senate Republicans will ultimately side with Democrats should the Trump trial — which will have US Chief Justice John Roberts in charge — reach a final vote on conviction or acquittal. Even the chamber's most moderate members, like Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, are refusing to say how they will vote.

Cramer said he didn't think there were 17 GOP senators who would join with all 50 Democrats to convict Trump.

If that scenario played out, Trump's trial would end with the ex-president's acquittal.

McConnell's strategy of telling Republicans like Cramer they have the freedom to convict Trump has prompted all manner of speculation about what the GOP Senate leader is doing. Some sources said they thought he was delivering a warning shot to the lame-duck president that Republicans were finished with him in politics.

"They're free, like a bird," a GOP source familiar with McConnell's thinking told Insider. "They don't want him running again. That's what McConnell is trying to figure out how to do."

oh-shazbot on January 15th, 2021 at 18:32 UTC »

how did mitch mcconnell use the word 'conscience' and not immediately burst into flames or get struck by lightning?

GraveyardKoi on January 15th, 2021 at 18:21 UTC »

Uh oh. We know how reliable Republican's consciences are.

peteythapistol on January 15th, 2021 at 18:21 UTC »

This dude wants Trump gone from the GOP. And the Dems are going to clean up his mess.