National File| FRANK SALVATO | Establishment Republicans are urging the Minority Leader to quietly greenlight President Trump’s conviction in the Senate
Reports are emerging that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), is being privately urged to support a conviction vote in the Senate’s Republican caucus by prominent Republicans and former White House officials.
In talking to reporters off the record, one Republican member of Congress made clear that the goal to forbid President Donald Trumpfrom ever holding elected office again is commonly held goal not only among Democrats and Progressives, but among Deep State establishment Republicans as well.
“Mitch said to me he wants Trump gone,” one Republican member of Congress told reporters in confidence. “It is in his political interest to have him gone. It is in the GOP interest to have him gone. The question is, do we get there?”
The lobbying by influential Washington insiders to disqualify Mr. Trump from ever holding office in the future started in the US House of Representatives after the January 6th chaos at the US Capitol Building. The secretive lobbying began to center on McConnell after the House’s impeachment vote.
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McConnell has negotiated a February 8, 2021, start date for Mr. Trump’s second impeachment trial. It was announced on Monday that partisan Democrat Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), would preside over the trial instead of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, leading many to question the legitimacy of the process on the whole.
Last week, in a shocking floor speech, McConnell said Mr. Trump and his allies were the catalyst for “storming” of the Capitol Building on January 6th. Several videos contradict the use of the word “storming,” showing people casually walking into the Capitol Building through open doors stationed with Capitol Hill police officers who stood by without taking action.
McConnell, who himself has not ruled out voting to convict the former President, said Trump was directly responsible for provoking the actions on January 6th, saying, “The last time the Senate convened, we had just reclaimed the Capitol from violent criminals who tried to stop Congress from doing our duty. This mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like. But we pressed on.”
Meanwhile, McConnell’s colleague from Kentucky, Senator Rand Paul, successfully convinced all but five Senate Republicans to vote with him in a declaration that the attempt to impeach a president who is no longer sitting, with the excuse that he incite a riot – when President Trump called for a peaceful protest – is completely unconstitutional.
If the 45 Senate Republicans who voted to end the impeachment trial before it began intend to vote the same way during the Senate trial, then Democrat Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will not be able to round up the two thirds majority required to convict President Trump.
On January 13, 2021, the US House voted 232-197 to impeach Mr. Trump for a second time. Ten Republicans, including Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Liz Cheney (R-WY), and John Katko (R-NY), voting with Democrats to impeach Mr. Trump.
