Republicans who impeached Trump stand by decision as trial looms. ‘Right thing to do’
Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump haven’t wavered in their stances as his trial is set to begin Tuesday.
In the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump — who continuously made false claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent — on charges that he incited an insurrection. He’s the first U.S. president to be impeached twice.
Ten Republicans, along with all Democrats, voted in favor of impeachment.
Now, the U.S. Senate will hold a trial on whether to convict Trump on those charges. The trial starts at 1 p.m. ET with debate and a vote on whether trying a former president is constitutional. The vote is expected to pass.
Then, starting at noon ET Wednesday, House impeachment managers will have up to 16 hours over two days to present their arguments. Trump’s lawyers will then have the same amount of time to present their side.
Trump’s conviction is unlikely as it would require a two-thirds majority and therefore 17 Republicans and all 50 Democrats to vote in favor.
But as Trump’s trial looms, House Republicans who voted to impeach him have stood by their decision — with one encouraging Senate Republicans to vote in favor of conviction.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois wrote an op-ed published Monday in The Washington Post, saying that convicting Trump is “necessary” and pushing back on attempts to cast impeachment as “political theater.”
“But this isn’t a waste of time. It’s a matter of accountability,” he wrote in the op-ed. “If the GOP doesn’t take a stand, the chaos of the past few months, and the past four years, could quickly return. The future of our party and our country depends on confronting what happened — so it doesn’t happen again.”
Kinzinger said the majority of his constituents who he’s heard from have supported his vote to impeach.
“I firmly believe the majority of Americans — Republican, Democrat, independent, you name it — reject the madness of the past four years,” he wrote. “But we’ll never move forward by ignoring what happened or refusing to hold accountable those responsible. That will embolden the few who led us here and dishearten the many who know America is better than this.”
Other Republicans who voted in favor of impeachment have faced sharp criticism from members of their party.
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 Republican in the House, was censured by her state’s Republican party over her impeachment vote.
But she told “Fox News Sunday” this week that she stands by her vote.
“As I’ve explained and will continue to explain to supporters all across the state and voters all across the state, the oath that I took to the Constitution compelled me to vote for impeachment,” she said. “And it doesn’t bend to partisanship, it doesn’t bend to political pressure. It’s the most important oath that we take.”
When asked if she would vote to convict Trump if she were in the Senate, Cheney told “Fox News Sunday” she would “listen to the testimony.”
“I would listen to the evidence,” she said. “If you’re a senator, you have a responsibility to be a juror, and I think that’s very important.”
In January, all but five Republican senators voted in favor of an effort led by Sen. Rand Paul to declare the trial unconstitutional since Trump is no longer in office, The Hill reported — signaling Trump’s conviction is unlikely to get enough support.
The trial is expected to be relatively speedy, with some lawmakers telling The Hill it could last about a week. Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, urged Democrats to get the trial over “as quickly as possible” and threatened to drag it out if they call a single witness.
Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina was also censured by his state’s Republican party after voting to impeach Trump.
“In eight years in Congress, I probably had a hundred votes that I could have gone either way, and I maybe second-guessed a little bit,” Rice told CNN. “This is not one of them.”
When asked by CNN if he regretted voting to impeach Trump, Rep. John Katko of New York said, “Hell no.”
And Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan told CNN he hasn’t regretted his vote “for a second.”
“It was the right thing to do,” he told the outlet.
This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 12:23 PM with the headline "Republicans who impeached Trump stand by decision as trial looms. ‘Right thing to do’."
