Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) warned Friday (Jan. 15) of a mass exodus from the Republican Party if Republicans join Democrats and convict President Trump (R-Ky.) in a second impeachment trial, even after Trump leaves office.
Republican Senator Paul of Kentucky told Fox that if Trump is convicted, he believes a third of Republican lawmakers will leave the party. Paul added that he believes a second impeachment is “purely a partisan thing.
“I don’t agree with the violence that happened last week, and I had a vote against overturning the election (results),” Paul said Friday night, “but at the same time, impeachment is a wrong, partisan category. But if Republicans go along with it, it will destroy the party. One-third of Republicans will leave the party.”
The Democrat-controlled House passed articles of impeachment on party lines Wednesday (13) for “sedition” by President Trump on Jan. 6. The violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 left five people dead; an Electoral College vote was underway in Congress to begin debate on Arizona.
In the House impeachment vote on the 13th, 10 House Republicans joined Democrats and voted for Trump’s impeachment, making him the first U.S. president in history to be impeached twice.
Although several Republican senators have now called for Trump to no longer be eligible for impeachment after Democratic successor President Joe Biden took office as Trump’s replacement, so far, no senatorial leader from either party has said that he will not accept the impeachment case against Trump.
If Trump is convicted in the Senate trial, it could result in Trump being barred from holding any U.S. government office again in the future, including running for president.
The Senate needs two-thirds of the votes, or 67 senators, to convict the president. And with the swearing in of Georgia’s two newly elected Democratic senators, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, later in January, the Senate will become a 50-50 bipartisan tie.
There are no clear numbers on how many Republican senators would agree with Trump’s impeachment charges. But based on the full House vote and the new Senate landscape, the likelihood of getting 17 conviction votes from Senate Republicans remains slim.
Trump will leave office next Wednesday (20) and will be succeeded by President-elect Joe Biden. Trump has said he will not attend the inauguration and is expected to leave Washington, D.C., before the start of Biden’s inauguration activities.
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