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The Senate impeachment trial of former United States President Donald Trump, who stands accused of тАЬincitement of insurrectionтАЭ for his role in the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, continues to drive a wedge within the Republican Party.
Ten Republicans in the US House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump on January 13, a week after pro-Trump rioters breached the US Capitol as Congress met to certify President Joe BidenтАЩs election victory.
Republicans who voted for impeachment included Representative Liz Cheney, the chairwoman of the Republican conference, who has since faced a push from within the party to remove her from her leadership post.
Meanwhile, several Senate Republicans have said they oppose moving forward with the trial in the chamber, which is set to begin on February 9, while at least one, Senator Mitt Romney, has said moving forward with the impeachment trial is тАЬappropriateтАЭ.
The House is expected to officially send the article of impeachment to the Senate on Monday.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi holds the signed article of impeachment against US President Donald J Trump [Shawn Thew/EPA]
The inter-party conflict centres on the question of whether Trump committed impeachable offences in his campaign to overturn the election results and to egg on protesters shortly before the riot, as well as whether impeachment proceedings can continue after a US president has left office.
тАЬThe article of impeachment that was sent over by the House suggests impeachable conduct,тАЭ Romney told Fox News on Sunday. тАЬItтАЩs pretty clear that over the last year or so, there has been an effort to corrupt the election of the United States and it was not by President Biden, it was by President Trump.тАЭ
Romney added that there was a тАЬpreponderance of the legal opinionтАЭ that moving forward with the trial after Trump has left office is constitutional.
Republicans are unlikely to succeed in any early vote to dismiss the trial, given Democrats now control a slim majority in the 100-seat chamber, with 50 seats and Vice President Kamala Harris casting a tie-breaking vote.
Still, Democratic House impeachment managers, who will be arguing for impeachment during the Senate trial, will face an uphill battle; the Senate must secure a two-thirds majority to convict Trump.
That means 17 Republicans would need to break ranks and vote to convict. Such a conviction could also lead to Trump being barred from holding federal office in the future.
тАШStupidтАЩ
RomneyтАЩs statements stood in stark contrast to those of many of his Senate colleagues, who have increasingly begun to stake positions on the matter in recent days.
In an interview on Fox News on Sunday, Republican Senator Tom Cotton maintained that moving ahead with the trial after Trump has left office was unconstitutional.
тАЬI think a lot of Americans are going to think itтАЩs strange that the Senate is spending its time trying to convict and remove from office a man who left office a week ago,тАЭ Cotton said.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio, also on Fox News on Sunday, called the trial тАЬstupidтАЭ.
тАЬWe already have a flaming fire in this country and itтАЩs like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire,тАЭ he said.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator John Cornyn, in a tweet on Saturday, suggested that moving ahead with the impeachment trial of a president who has left office would set a precedent that could lead to тАЬformer Democratic PresidentsтАЭ facing impeachment if Republicans regain control of Congress.
Some scholars argue that conducting an impeachment trial after a president has left office is unconstitutional, while others say it is permitted as long the proceedings begin before a president has left office.
But the question of whether impeachment proceedings can begin wholesale after a president has left office is considered even less clear.
Cotton, Rubio and Cornyn join Republican Senators Mike Rounds, Lindsey Graham, John Barrasso, and Ron Johnson in publicly opposing the trial for Trump, who is expected to remain a political force in the coming years.
Republicans to watch
Still, several influential Senate Republicans have been less clear about their intentions.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has laid the blame for the Capitol riot at TrumpтАЩs feet, saying he тАЬprovokedтАЭ his supporters who were тАЬfed liesтАЭ by the president and other powerful people.
McConnell has not said how he would vote on impeachment or taken a public stance on the constitutionality of the trial.
Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell has said Trump тАШprovokedтАЩ the Capitol Hill riot, but has not said how he will vote in the impeachment trial [File: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo]
Other Republican senators will be closely watched in the weeks to come, including Lisa Murkowski, who called on Trump to resign after the riot and later said the House acted тАЬappropriatelyтАЭ in impeaching him, and Susan Collins, who said Trump тАЬbears responsibilityтАЭ for the incident.
Neither has taken public positions on the constitutionality of the trial or said how they will vote.
Senator Ben Sasse and Pat Toomey have also said they would be open to impeaching the president, but have questioned whether a Senate trial would further divide the country.
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