The Senate voted 57 to 43 to acquit former President Donald Trump on Saturday (Feb. 13), the fifth day of his second impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate.
The seven Republican senators who said former President Trump was guilty of sedition have faced backlash from within the Republican Party. Trump has remained popular after leaving office and remains a popular figure in the Republican Party.
The executive committee of the Louisiana GOP said in a brief statement that they voted unanimously to condemn Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) conviction vote. The party made it clear last week that it was “deeply disappointed” when Cassidy stood with five other Republicans and all Senate Democrats to declare the trial constitutional.
Another guilty vote, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), also received condemnation from his Home state, the North Carolina Republican Party.
“It is shocking and disappointing that Senator Burr, a North Carolina Republican, went to the U.S. Senate (to) uphold the Constitution, (but) he (instead) declared his vote of conviction in an unconstitutional trial.” North Carolina GOP Chairman Michael Whatley (R) wrote in a statement.
Pennsylvania Republican leader Lawrence Tabas (R) also condemned Sen. Pat Toomey’s (R) decision to vote to convict Trump, saying, “I share the disappointment of many grassroots leaders and volunteers in Senator Toomey’s vote today.” “The Senate’s final vote to acquit is the constitutionally correct result.”
The other four Republican senators who are on the same side as Democrats are Mitt Romney (R-Tenn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Ariz.) and Ben Sasse (R-Calif.).
As of noon Sunday (Dec. 14), Republicans in Utah, Maine, Alaska and Nebraska had not responded to statements about congressional senators from those states who voted to convict.
Utah, Alaska and Nebraska did not respond to requests for comment. The Epoch Times was unable to reach the Maine Republican Party.
Murkowski’s conviction is expected to have an impact on her re-election bid in 2022, while Sasse, of Nebraska, has faced growing opposition in recent weeks for his “anti-Trump” and conviction vote comments.
Murkowski told reporters on Capitol Hill, “I think every vote has consequences and involves multifaceted consequences, but nonetheless, I’m not going to allow my vote (in the Senate) and what it means to be devalued because it might help me in my political development.”
Romney was elected in 2018. Sasse, Collins and Cassidy are up for re-election in 2020. And while Toomey and Burr’s terms will end in two years, both plan to retire.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), for his part, praised the group of Republicans who called Trump guilty. He called them “patriots of the Republican Party” on the Senate floor after the vote.
Cassidy said in a brief video that he voted to convict Trump “because he’s guilty.
Burr said Trump on Jan. 6 “directed his supporters to the Capitol to disrupt the legal process required by the Constitution,” adding that “when the crowd became violent, the president first used his office to inflame the situation rather than immediately calling for an end to the attacks.”
Romney said, “President Trump used his office on Jan. 6 to incite a rebellion against Congress by rallying supporters to Washington and urging them to march on the Capitol during the electoral vote count.”
For his part, Sasse said he was elected on a promise to Nebraskans that he would always vote for his conscience. He said, “I promised in my first speech on the Senate floor in November 2015 that I would speak up when the president oversteps his authority, even if it’s from the same party. I can’t go back on my word, and Congress can’t lower our standards on such a serious issue simply because it’s politically expedient. I must vote to convict.”
In his Senate speech, Collins spoke of how “this impeachment trial is not about any word President Trump said on January 6, 2021. Rather, it is about President Trump’s failure to keep the oath he took on January 20, 2017. His actions to interfere with the peaceful transition of power, which is a hallmark of the Constitution and American democracy, that is an abuse of power that constitutes grounds for conviction.”
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