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US Senate Republicans Edge Away from Trump Impeachment Conviction

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Republicans appear to be edging away from
   convicting former President Donald Trump of inciting insurrection in
   the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by hundreds of Trump
   supporters who looked to confront lawmakers as they debated certifying
   Joe Biden as the winner of the November election.

   All 100 senators -- 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans -- are being sworn
   in Tuesday as jurors in Trump's impeachment trial, although the heart
   of the case has been put off until February 9.

   The Republican lawmakers hold Trump's fate in their hands, even though
   the former president's four-year term in the White House ended January
   20 with Biden's inauguration.

   A two-thirds vote is needed for conviction, meaning 17 Republicans
   would have to turn against Trump for a conviction, assuming all 50
   Democrats vote as a bloc. If convicted, a separate, simple majority
   vote could bar Trump from ever holding public office again.

   Biden, a senator for 36 years and the former vice president in the
   Obama administration, told CNN on Monday he supports holding the trial
   but does not think enough Republicans will vote against Trump for a
   conviction.

   Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Trump supporter who has been
   advising the former president on the upcoming proceedings, said, "There
   are only a handful of Republicans, and shrinking, who will vote against
   him."

   Numerous Republican senators have said Trump bears some responsibility
   for the mayhem that unfolded at the Capitol that left five dead,
   including a police officer whose death is being investigated as a
   homicide. At a January 6 rally near the White House, Trump continued
   voicing baseless claims that he had been cheated out of reelection and
   urged his supporters to march to the Capitol and "fight" to upend
   Biden's victory.

   In the weeks since, authorities have arrested dozens of the rioters who
   rampaged into the Capitol building, the worldwide symbol of U.S.
   democracy, ransacked some congressional offices and scuffled with
   police. The actions of dozens more protesters are still being
   investigated.

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