- Trump spent Inauguration Day worrying about his Senate impeachment trial, The Daily Beast reported.
- He reportedly spent the day asking allies for help and asking if some Republicans might turn on him.
- If the Senate votes to impeach Trump, he could be forever barred from running for office.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Former President Donald Trump spent Inauguration Day at Mar-a-Lago, his private Florida club, fretting about his upcoming Senate impeachment trial, The Daily Beast reported.
The outlet reported, citing two sources, that Trump spent the afternoon calling allies to ask what lawyers he could tap to defend him in the trial, and to ask if Republicans would vote against him.
Trump skipped President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday – eschewing decades of American tradition – and flew to Palm Beach that morning instead.
As a one-term president, Trump can run again for a second term, and has indicated plans to do so. But if the Senate convicts him, he could lose that privilege as well as many of the perks of being a former president.
A conviction necessitates support of two-thirds of the Senate, meaning that if all Democrats vote to convict Trump, at least 17 Republicans would have to join them to reach that majority.
At Trump’s first impeachment, just one Republican – Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah – voted against Trump, and only on one of the two articles against him at the time.
But it’s possible that more Republicans will vote for impeachment this time around, as the party grapples with whether to move on from the Trump era.
The House, which is controlled by the Democratic Party, voted to impeach Trump last week over his role in inciting his supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6. As of January 20, the Senate is also Democrat-controlled, with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tiebreaking vote.
Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has blamed Trump for the Capitol riot, saying on the Senate floor on Tuesday: “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.”
McConnell told the Associated Press last week he was undecided about his vote. However,as Insider reported last week, he has told his Republican colleagues to vote however they wish.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Pat Toomey, both Republicans, called for Trump to resign after the Capitol breach, with Toomey saying Trump “committed impeachable offenses” and Murkowski saying that the House acted “appropriately” to impeach Trump.
Sen. Ben Sasse, also a Republican, told CBS This Morning that he would consider impeachment, saying Trump had “disregarded his oath of office.”
But there is also a movement within the Senate Republicans to support Trump. So far at least 21 Republican senators have either issued comments or strongly indicated that they won’t vote for the former president’s conviction, according to Newsweek.
The date for Trump’s Senate impeachment trial has not yet been set. Senate rules state that the trial would begin the day after the House sends over the article impeachment, and as of Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not done that yet, per Reuters.
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