Politics
Here are the SEVEN Republicans who voted to convict Trump as guilty at his impeachment trial
SEVEN Republican Senators voted with the Democrats to impeach Donald Trump for inciting insurrection.
Their backing was not enough to find the former President guilty and the historic second attempt at impeaching him fell short.
Donald Trump was acquitted for a second time[/caption]
Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania voted to convict the 45th president.
The seven GOP senators joined 48 Democrats and two senators who are independents in voting to impeach Trump, who was accused of inciting supporters to lay siege to the Capitol.
Most of them aren’t up for re-election soon with Murkowski is the only one of the group facing voters in 2022. Burr and Toomey aren’t running for another term.
Romney is the only one to vote to convict the president during his two impeachment trials.
His guilty vote at Trump’s initial impeachment trial last February made him the first senator to ever vote to convict a president of the same party.
Susan Collins said the storming of the Capitol was not sponteneous[/caption]
Lisa Murkowski said she was ‘disturbed’ by footage of the attack[/caption]
Mitt Romney has voted twice to impeach Trump[/caption]
During the hearings, Murkowski was outspoken in her condemnation of the President after watching video of the riot which she said left her “angry” and “disturbed”.
“I don’t see how after the American public sees the whole story laid out here … how Donald Trump could be re-elected to the presidency,” he said.
Collins said on the Senate floor on Saturday: “That attack was not a spontaneous outbreak of violence.
“Rather, it was the culmination of a steady stream of provocations by President Trump that were aimed at overturning the results of the presidential election.’
Romney, Collins and Murkowski were expected to vote to impeach but perhaps the most surprising vote came from Burr, 16-year Senate veteran who keeps a low profile in Washington.
Ben Sasse has been a long-time critic of Trump[/caption]
Bill Cassidy blasted the performance of Trump’s lawyers[/caption]
Bill Burr’s vote to impeach Trump came as a surprise[/caption]
Pat Toomey said he felt ‘betrayed’ by Trump[/caption]
After years as top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee the 65-year-old telegraphs little about his views.
He said Trump made unfounded claims about a fraud-riddled election because he did not like the results and used the presidency to inflame the rioters rather than urging them to stand down.
“The evidence is compelling that President Trump is guilty of inciting an insurrection against a coequal branch of government,” Burr said.
Cassidy, 63, was re-elected in November from a deep-red state and the physician – a traditional conservative – had initially sided with the vast majority of Senate Republicans to block the trial.
But he blasted a shambolic performance by Trumps legal team at the start of the trial while praising Democrats for presenting a compelling case and then switched sides.
He posted a video statement on Twitter, saying, “Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty.”
Sasse has been a long-time critic of Trump and told local Republican officials “politics isn’t about the weird worship of one dude”.
“Tribalism is a hell of a drug, but our oath to the Constitution means were constrained to the facts,” Sasse said Saturday.
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In a statement, Toomey said was initially a Trump supporter but felt “betrayed” by him.
“I was one of the 74 million Americans who voted for President Trump, in part because of the many accomplishments of his administration.
“Unfortunately, his behavior after the election betrayed the confidence millions of us placed in him.”
