One Republican Senator switched his vote today on the constitutionality of the phony impeachment after today’s arguments:
CNN – Six Republicans joined all of their Democratic colleagues on Tuesday to vote that the impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump is constitutional, with Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy emerging as the sole Republican to switch his vote after an initial vote on constitutionality last week.
The 56-44 final vote marked the closing chapter of Tuesday’s proceedings, with the Senate adjourned until noon on Wednesday. All but six Republican senators voted that the trial was unconstitutional because Trump is no longer president. It was the second time such a vote was taken after Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, forced a vote on the same question last month.
Here’s which Republican senators voted that the impeachment trial was consistent with the Constitution:
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah
Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska
Sen. Pat Toomey of PennsylvaniaCassidy told CNN Tuesday after the House managers’ presentation that it was a “very good opening” and they made strong arguments. During their presentation, House impeachment managers showed how rioters violently breached the US Capitol and attacked police officers, invoking Trump’s name as they tried to disrupt the certification of the November election.
“House managers were focused, they were organized,” and “made a compelling argument,” Cassidy said after the vote. In contrast, he added, “President Trump’s team were disorganized. They did everything they could but to talk about the question at hand and when they talked about it, they kind of glided over, almost as if they were embarrassed of their arguments.”
I didn’t get a chance to sit down and listen to arguments today, but I understand that Bruce Castor was the one who everyone thought bombed. But was his performance bad enough to force a change of vote on constitutionality? I seriously doubt it and wonder if Cassidy is just looking for an excuse to vote to impeach Trump when this is all over next week.
Even Jonathan Turley ripped into Democrats for misrepresenting his position on retroactive trials:
WATCH: Jonathan Turley BLASTS the House impeachment managers for misrepresenting his position on the constitutionality of Democrats' article of impeachment.
"What they are citing is an article from 21 years ago…I have evolved in my view of the text."
— Kambree (@KamVTV) February 9, 2021
Let’s hope tomorrow goes better for Trump even though it’s all really moot anyway. Because Trump isn’t going to get impeached even if Cassidy joins Democrats. There isn’t anything close to a 2/3rds majority to convicting Trump.