The state party denounced the seven Republican senators who sided with the Dems in the impeachment trial
The seven Republican senators who labeled former President Donald Trump guilty of inciting an insurrection are already facing backlash from within the GOP, where Trump is still popular and appreciated.
In a brief statement, the party said that the Louisiana GOP’s Executive Committee unanimously voted to censure Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) over his vote.
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Earlier this week, the state party had said that it was “profoundly disappointed” when Cassidy joined five other Republicans and all Democrats in the upper chamber to declare the trial constitutional.
The North Carolina Republican Party condemned Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who also voted guilty.
“North Carolina Republicans sent Senator Burr to the United States Senate to uphold the Constitution and his vote today to convict in a trial that he declared unconstitutional is shocking and disappointing,” North Carolina GOP Chairman Michael Whatley declared in a statement.
Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Lawrence Tabas pointed out how Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) voted to convict Trump. “I share the disappointment of many of our grassroots leaders and volunteers over Senator Toomey’s vote today,” he noted in a statement. “The vote to acquit was the constitutionally correct outcome.”
The remaining four Republicans who took the Democrats’ side were Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.).
Statements regarding the votes are not issued by the Utah, Maine, Alaska, and Nebraska Republican parties as of early Sunday. The Maine GOP was not available for contact. The other parties didn’t give a response to requests for comment. For his anti-Trump statements and votes in recent weeks, Sasse has faced mounting opposition.
The Republican senators who voted against Trump were praised by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). In his speech on the Senate floor after the vote, he referred to them as “Republican patriots.”
The votes could have consequences in 2022 for Murkowski, who is up for re-election.
“It’s not about me and my life, my job, this is really about what we stand for. And [if] I can’t say what I believe that our president should stand for, then why should I ask Alaskans to stand with me?” Murkowski said to reporters on Capitol Hill.
“So there’s consequences, I guess, with every vote, and this was this was consequential on many levels, but I cannot allow my vote, the significance of my vote, to be devalued by whether or not I feel that this is helpful for my political ambitions.”
The terms of Toomey and Burr are also slated to end in two years, but both of them have retirement plans.
Romney was elected in 2018, while Sasse, Collins, and Cassidy were re-elected in 2020.
In a short video statement, Cassidy said that he voted for Trump’s conviction “because he is guilty.”
Burr said the former president “directed his supporters to go to the Capitol to disrupt the lawful proceedings required by the Constitution” on Jan. 6, continuing: “When the crowd became violent, the President used his office to first inflame the situation instead of immediately calling for an end to the assault.”
Romney stated:
“President Trump incited the insurrection against Congress by using the power of his office to summon his supporters to Washington on January 6th and urging them to march on the Capitol during the counting of electoral votes.”
Sasse issued a statement saying that when he was elected in 2014, he promised Nebraskans that he’d always vote his conscience:
“In my first speech here in the Senate in November 2015, I promised to speak out when a president—even of my own party—exceeds his or her powers. I cannot go back on my word, and Congress cannot lower our standards on such a grave matter, simply because it is politically convenient. I must vote to convict.”
Speaking on the Senate floor, Collins told colleagues:
“This impeachment trial is not about any single word uttered by President Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. It is instead about President Trump’s failure to obey the oath he swore on Jan. 20, 2017. His actions to interfere with the peaceful transition of power—the hallmark of our Constitution and our American democracy—were an abuse of power and constitute grounds for conviction.”
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Source: Politico
