Support of Trump trial ebbs in GOP; charge arriving at Senate today

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks during a confirmation hearing for President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for national intelligence director Avril Haines before the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington. (Joe Raedle/Pool via AP)
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks during a confirmation hearing for President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for national intelligence director Avril Haines before the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington. (Joe Raedle/Pool via AP)

WASHINGTON -- A growing number of Republican senators say they oppose holding an impeachment trial, a sign of the dimming chances that former President Donald Trump will be convicted on the charge that he incited a siege of the U.S. Capitol.

House Democrats, who will walk the impeachment charge of "incitement of insurrection" to the Senate today, are hoping that strong Republican denunciations of Trump after the Jan. 6 riot will translate into a conviction and a separate vote to bar Trump from holding office again. But GOP passions appear to have cooled since the insurrection, and now that Trump's presidency is over, Republican senators who will serve as jurors in the trial are rallying to his legal defense, as they did during his first impeachment trial last year.

[DOCUMENT: Articles of impeachment against President Trump » arkansasonline.com/impeach2/]

"I think the trial is stupid, I think it's counterproductive," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on "Fox News Sunday." He said that "the first chance I get to vote to end this trial, I'll do it" because he believes it would be bad for the country and further inflame partisan divisions.

Arguments in the Senate trial will begin the week of Feb. 8. Leaders in both parties agreed to the short delay to give Trump's team and House prosecutors time to prepare and the Senate the chance to confirm some of President Joe Biden's Cabinet nominees. Democrats say the extra days will allow for more evidence to come out about the rioting by Trump supporters who interrupted the congressional electoral count of Biden's election victory, while Republicans hope to craft a unified defense for Trump.

An early vote to dismiss the trial probably would not succeed, given that Democrats now control the Senate. Still, the Republican opposition indicates that many GOP senators would eventually vote to acquit Trump. Democrats would need the support of 17 Republican senators to convict him.

When the House impeached Trump on Jan. 13, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said he didn't believe the Senate had the constitutional authority to convict Trump after he had left office. On Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures," Cotton said "the more I talk to other Republican senators, the more they're beginning to line up" behind that argument.

[DOCUMENT: Transcript of President Trump's Jan. 6 speech » arkansasonline.com/jan6trump/]

"I think a lot of Americans are going to think it's strange that the Senate is spending its time trying to convict and remove from office a man who left office a week ago," Cotton said.

Democrats reject that argument, pointing to an 1876 impeachment of a secretary of war who had already resigned and to opinions by many legal scholars. Democrats also say that a reckoning of the first invasion of the Capitol since the War of 1812, perpetrated by rioters egged on by a president who told them to "fight like hell" against election results that were being certified at the time, is necessary so the country can move forward and ensure such a siege never happens again.

FOR AND AGAINST

Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the only Republican who voted to convict Trump in his first impeachment trial, said Sunday that he believed that the former president had committed an impeachable offense, and that the effort to try him even after he left office was constitutional.

"I believe that what is being alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense," Romney said on "State of the Union" on CNN. "If not, what is?"

Romney, citing both the Capitol riot and an hourlong call that Trump placed to the Georgia secretary of state pressuring him to overturn the election results, said the allegations already in the article of impeachment "themselves are of a sufficient nature that the American people are outraged."

But even as Romney signaled his openness to convicting Trump, other Senate Republicans made clear that they opposed even the idea of a trial and would try to dismiss the charge before it began.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said on NBC's "Meet the Press" he believes a trial is a "moot point" after a president's term is over, "and I think it's one that they would have a very difficult time in trying to get done within the Senate."

[RELATED: Full coverage of elections in Arkansas » arkansasonline.com/elections/]

Rubio compared the transition of power to that of President Richard M. Nixon.

"In hindsight, I think we would all agree that President Ford's pardon was important for the country to be able to move forward," Rubio said, "and history held Richard Nixon quite accountable for what he did as a result."

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, tweeted on Saturday: "If it is a good idea to impeach and try former Presidents, what about former Democratic Presidents when Republicans get the majority in 2022? Think about it and let's do what is best for the country."

On Friday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump ally who has been helping him build a legal team, urged the Senate to reject the idea of a post-presidency trial -- potentially with a vote to dismiss the charge -- and suggested Republicans will scrutinize whether Trump's words on Jan. 6 were legally "incitement."

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Democrats were sending a message that "hatred and vitriol of Donald Trump is so strong" that they will hold a trial that stops Biden's policy priorities from moving. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., suggested Democrats are choosing "vindictiveness" over national security as the new president tries to set up his administration.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who said last week that Trump "provoked" his supporters before the riot, has not said how he will vote or argued any legal strategies. He has told his GOP colleagues that it will be a vote of conscience.

'TOWARD UNITY'

Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., one of the impeachment managers who will try the case against Trump, said Sunday that she expected the trial to "go faster" than his trial in 2020, which lasted 21 days.

"Some people would like us to turn the page: 'Oh, let's move on,'" Dean said on "State of the Union." "We must remember, I believe, that this impeachment trial, I hope conviction, ultimate disqualification, are the very first powerful steps toward unity."

Dean declined to say whether impeachment managers would include a New York Times report Friday that Trump had considered firing the acting attorney general while in office to wield the Justice Department's power to try to force state lawmakers in Georgia to overturn its presidential election results. But the impeachment managers have previously signaled that they intend to present a relatively straightforward case, with the siege that played out in public view at the heart of their case.

Trump's supporters invaded the Capitol and interrupted the certification as he claimed election fraud. Trump's claims were roundly rejected in the courts, including by judges appointed by Trump, and by state election officials.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday that he hopes that evolving clarity on the details of what happened Jan. 6 "will make it clearer to my colleagues and the American people that we need some accountability."

Coons questioned how his colleagues who were in the Capitol that day could see the insurrection as anything other than a "stunning violation" of the centuries-old tradition of peaceful transfers of power.

"It is a critical moment in American history and we have to look at it and look at it hard," Coons said.

Information for this article was contributed by Mary Clare Jalonick, Lisa Mascaro and Hope Yen of The Associated Press; and by Catie Edmondson of The New York Times.

Vice President Mike Pence administers the oath of office to Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., as his wife Annie Coons holds a Bible, during a reenactment ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber at the Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)
Vice President Mike Pence administers the oath of office to Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., as his wife Annie Coons holds a Bible, during a reenactment ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber at the Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., speaks during a confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense nominee Lloyd Austin, a recently retired Army general, before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP)
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., speaks during a confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense nominee Lloyd Austin, a recently retired Army general, before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP)
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, questions Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken during his confirmation hearing to be Secretary of State before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. (Graeme Jennings/Pool via AP)
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, questions Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken during his confirmation hearing to be Secretary of State before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. (Graeme Jennings/Pool via AP)
FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo violent rioters, loyal to President Donald Trump, storm the Capitol in Washington. The words of Donald Trump supporters who are accused of participating in the deadly U.S. Capitol riot may end up being used against him in his Senate impeachment trial as he faces the charge of inciting a violent insurrection.  (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo violent rioters, loyal to President Donald Trump, storm the Capitol in Washington. The words of Donald Trump supporters who are accused of participating in the deadly U.S. Capitol riot may end up being used against him in his Senate impeachment trial as he faces the charge of inciting a violent insurrection. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo with the White House in the background, President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo with the White House in the background, President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Vice President Mike Pence administers the oath of office to Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D, during a reenactment ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber at the Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021. (Samuel Corum/Pool via AP)
Vice President Mike Pence administers the oath of office to Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D, during a reenactment ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber at the Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021. (Samuel Corum/Pool via AP)
In this image from video, Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., speaks as the House debates the objection to confirm the Electoral College vote from Pennsylvania, at the U.S. Capitol early Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. (House Television via AP)
In this image from video, Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., speaks as the House debates the objection to confirm the Electoral College vote from Pennsylvania, at the U.S. Capitol early Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. (House Television via AP)

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