45 GOP senators, including McConnell, vote to dismiss Trump’s impeachment trial as unconstitutional

WASHINGTON – Forty-five Republican senators on Tuesday voted that former President Donald Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial was unconstitutional, suggesting he will almost certainly be acquitted a second time.

Kentucky GOP Senator Rand Paul forced a Senate vote on a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing the impeachment process would be unconstitutional since Trump is now a private citizen.

The vast majority of Republicans in the upper house, 45 of them, agreed, including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who criticized Trump in the wake of the Jan.6 siege on the U.S. Capitol that he is accused of incitement.

The Senate needs a two-thirds majority to convict, which means 17 Republicans are expected to vote with Democrats – a seemingly unlikely outcome as Tuesday’s vote suggests.

Only five Republican senators broke with their party Tuesday afternoon and voted with Democrats to allow President Trump’s impeachment trial, but the Paul measure has always been stuck on a 55-45 vote.

GOP Meaning. Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who is serving his last term, walked across the aisle.

Romney was the only Republican to vote to convict Trump for abuse of power in his previous impeachment trial.

Ten GOP lawmakers also sided with the Democrats to impeach Trump in the House in a 232-197 vote on January 13.

Despite blocking the motion, Republicans view Tuesday’s loss as a victory.

If fewer than 34 lawmakers sided with Paul, it would have suggested that Trump may have been convicted, but he easily hit that threshold.

Paul told reporters the vote meant the impeachment trial would be “dead on arrival.”

In a heated speech to the Senate on Tuesday, Paul said Democrats’ calls for unity were hollow and that the impeachment of a former president and a private citizen was “the antithesis of unity.”

“Private citizens are not indicted; dismissal is dismissal. And the accused here has already left office, ”Paul said.

“The hyper-partisan Democrats are about to drag our great country into the gutter of grudge and vitriol unlike anything seen in our nation’s history,” he continued.

All 100 senators were sworn in Tuesday afternoon as jurors in Trump’s second impeachment trial, which will be overseen by Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and not Supreme Court Justice John Roberts since Trump is not more president.