{"id":11460,"date":"2021-01-13T06:30:56","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T14:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=11460"},"modified":"2021-01-13T06:30:56","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T14:30:56","slug":"mcconnell-privately-backs-impeachment-as-house-moves-to-charge-trump-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=11460","title":{"rendered":"“McConnell Privately Backs Impeachment as House Moves to Charge Trump”, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/span>Jonathan Martin<\/span>, Maggie Haberman<\/span> and Nicholas Fandos, Jan.13, 2021<\/span><\/p>\n

The House formally called on Vice President Mike Pence to move to wrest power from the president, as Republican support built for impeaching him of inciting violence against the nation.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Senator<\/picture><\/div>
Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, walking past security forces to his office during a break in the Senate session that reconvened last week after a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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WASHINGTON \u2014 Senator Mitch McConnell has concluded that President Trump committed impeachable offenses and believes that Democrats\u2019 move to impeach him will make it easier to purge Mr. Trump from the party, according to people familiar with Mr. McConnell\u2019s thinking.<\/p>\n

The private assessment of Mr. McConnell, the most powerful Republican in Congress, emerged on the eve of a House vote to formally charge Mr. Trump with inciting violence against the country for his role in whipping up a mob of his supporters who stormed the Capitol while lawmakers met to formalize President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n

In a sign that the dam could be breaking against Mr. Trump in a party that has long been unfailingly loyal to him, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 Republican in the House, announced her intention to support the single charge of high crimes and misdemeanors, as other party leaders declined to formally lobby rank-and-file lawmakers to oppose it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,\u201d Ms. Cheney said in a statement. \u201cThere has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Even before Mr. McConnell\u2019s position was known and Ms. Cheney had announced her plans, advisers to the Senate Republican leader had already privately speculated that a dozen Republican senators \u2014 and possibly more \u2014 could ultimately vote to convict Mr. Trump in a Senate trial that would follow his impeachment by the House. Seventeen Republicans would most likely be needed to join Democrats in finding him guilty. After that, it would take a simple majority to disqualify Mr. Trump from ever again holding public office.<\/p>\n

In the House, Representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader and one of Mr. Trump\u2019s most steadfast allies in Congress, has asked other Republicans whether he ought to call on Mr. Trump to resign in the aftermath of last week\u2019s riot at the Capitol, according to three Republican officials briefed on the conversations. While he has said he is personally opposed to impeachment, he and other party leaders did not mount an official effort to defeat the push, and Mr. McCarthy was working on Tuesday to build support for a censure resolution to rebuke the president for his actions.<\/p>\n

Taken together, the stances of Congress\u2019s two top Republicans \u2014 neither of whom has said publicly that Mr. Trump should resign or be impeached \u2014 reflected the politically fraught and fast-moving nature of the crisis the party faces. After four years of backing the president at nearly every turn and refusing to condemn even his most extreme behavior, party leaders were racing to distance themselves from a president many of them now regard as a political and constitutional threat.<\/p>\n

Mr. McCarthy backed the electoral challenges Republicans lodged last week during Congress\u2019s electoral count, voting twice to overturn Mr. Biden\u2019s victory in key swing states even after the siege at the Capitol. Mr. McConnell had broken with Mr. Trump just as the rioters were breaching the building, warning of a descent into a \u201cdeath spiral\u201d for democracy if the efforts were to prevail.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump has shown no trace of contrition. On Tuesday, in his first public appearance since the siege of the Capitol, he told reporters that his remarks to supporters at a rally that day \u2014 in which he exhorted them to go to the Capitol and \u201cfight\u201d so Republicans would reject the election results \u2014 had been \u201ctotally appropriate.\u201d It was the specter of his impeachment, he said, that was \u201ccausing tremendous anger.\u201d But with Twitter having suspended his account for good, Mr. Trump no longer has his favorite weapon to train on lawmakers who cross him, which could curtail the blowback they face for voting against him.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Mr. Trump\u2019s advisers used their own Twitter feeds to highlight his hold on the party\u2019s voters to keep Republicans in line. Jason Miller, a senior adviser, tweeted from an internal poll<\/a>: \u201c80% of Trump voters and 76% of Republicans in Battleground states are less likely to vote for a Member of Congress\/U.S. Senator who votes for impeachment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Republican Party\u2019s rapid turn against Mr. Trump unfolded as the House met into the night on Tuesday to debate and vote on a resolution formally calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to strip the president of his powers, a move that Mr. Pence shot down hours before the House passed it along party lines.<\/p>\n

In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mr. Pence argued that the amendment was meant to address medical emergencies or presidential \u201cincapacity\u201d and that using it as \u201ca means of punishment or usurpation\u201d would set a \u201cterrible precedent.\u201d In a veiled reference to impeachment, he urged Congress \u201cto avoid actions that would further divide and inflame the passions of the moment\u201d and pledged to work in \u201cgood faith\u201d with Mr. Biden\u2019s transition team.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast week, I did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election, and I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our nation,\u201d Mr. Pence wrote.<\/p>\n

With Mr. Pence refusing their call, Democrats planned a Wednesday vote on a single article of impeachment charging Mr. Trump with \u201cinciting violence against the government of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House expected roughly two dozen Republicans to support the charge, according to a senior administration official who insisted on anonymity to share a private assessment. Along with Ms. Cheney, Representatives John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Fred Upton of Michigan and Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington announced they would support the charge. Just over a year ago, House Republicans rallied unanimously against Democrats\u2019 first impeachment of Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n

Forgoing a lengthy investigation, Democrats released a 76-page report collecting public information about the attack \u2014 including social media posts, news articles and other statements \u2014 and laying out a legal justification for impeachment.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is true that the president\u2019s remaining term is limited \u2014 but a president capable of fomenting a violent insurrection in the Capitol is capable of greater dangers still,\u201d they wrote. \u201cHe must be removed from office as swiftly as the Constitution allows. He must also be disqualified to prevent the recurrence of the extraordinary threat he presents.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE IMPEACHMENT REPORT<\/em><\/p>\n

Read House Democrats\u2019 impeachment case<\/a> against President Trump.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the clearest sign to date that Ms. Pelosi plans to press the case to trial just as quickly as she brought it, she named nine Democrats as \u201cmanagers\u201d to serve as prosecutors in the Senate. Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, will be the lead manager, she said. He will be joined by Representatives Diana DeGette of Colorado, David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Joaquin Castro of Texas, Eric Swalwell of California, Ted Lieu of California, Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands, Joe Neguse of Colorado and Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

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The Trump Impeachment<\/em><\/div>\n

Latest Updates<\/a><\/h2>\n
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Jan. 13, 2021, 8:02 a.m. ET<\/span>1 hour ago<\/span><\/div>\n

1 hour ago<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n