“Citing her concern for the Constitution as well as the conduct of future presidents, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) will vote Wednesday to convict President Trump on the impeachment charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress,” the Arizona Republic reports.
Mitt Romney Will Vote to Convict Trump
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) announced he will vote to convict President Trump on abuse of power, the New York Times reports.
Said Romney: “I think the case was made.”
He added: “I believe that attempting to corrupt an election to maintain power is about as egregious an assault on the Constitution as can be made. And for that reason, it is a high crime and misdemeanor and I have no choice under the oath that I took but to express that conclusion.”
Romney told the Washington Post that his decision to vote to convict the president “the hardest decision” he has ever had to make.
Feinstein Backs Proposal to Censure Trump
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) told the Washington Post that she will back Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) censure proposal, adding a second name to the list.
Said also she was going to write her own resolution “but he beat me to it.”
Doug Jones Will Vote to Convict Trump
Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL), in a tough race for re-election, will vote to convict President Trump on both articles of impeachment.
Said Jones: “After many sleepless nights, I have reluctantly concluded that the evidence is sufficient to convict the President for both abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.”
Romney Watch
Every Republican U.S. senator has now announced that they will vote against convicting President Trump, except for Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who has not revealed his intentions either way, the Deseret News reports.
Romney is expected to give a floor speech just before the Senate reconvenes as a court.
And there are a few Democrats — Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Doug Jones of Alabama and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — who hadn’t revealed their decisions either.
The final impeachment vote is expected around 4 p.m. ET.
The State of the Union Address
President Trump will give his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at 9 p.m. ET.
Following the speech, the Democratic response will be given by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX).
New York Times: “Surreal will be the word of the evening as President Trump marches into the same House chamber where he was impeached just seven weeks ago to address the nation even as he is on trial for high crimes and misdemeanors on the other side of the Capitol.”
Leave your reactions in the comments.
Susan Collins Will Vote to Acquit Trump
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) — seen as a swing vote in President Trump’s impeachment trial — said Tuesday she supports acquittal, the Los Angeles Times reports.
While Colllins said Trump’s actions were “improper and demonstrated very poor judgment,” she concluded they did not meet the threshold for removal from office.
Said Collins: “I do not believe that the House has met its burden of showing that the president’s conduct, however flawed, warrants the extreme step of immediate removal from office, nor does the record support the assertion by the House managers that the president must not remain in office one moment longer.”
Collins to CBS News: “I believe that the president has learned from this case. The president has been impeached. That’s a pretty big lesson.”
Rand Paul Outs Whistleblower on Senate Floor
“Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) used the Senate floor to read aloud the name of an intelligence community official alleged to be the whistleblower who first raised alarms about President Donald Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine,” Politico reports.
GOP Senators Want Trump to Avoid Impeachment Talk
“Republican senators are expected to vote on Wednesday afternoon to acquit President Trump in the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history,” CNN reports.
“They would prefer the President not draw attention to that fact on Tuesday night, when he commands the country’s attention with his State of the Union address.”
Jill Biden No Longer Considers Graham a Friend
Jill Biden told CNN that she no longer considers herself a friend of Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has sought investigations into her husband and stepson.
Susan Collins Finds It Lonely In the Middle
Washington Post: “Here in Maine, where the famously independent Collins is locked in a tight reelection campaign, the choice elicited a wintry mix of cold shoulders and icy glares.”
“Republicans quietly counseled that Collins could go no further without inciting a rebellion from the party’s Trump-loving base — perhaps even a primary challenge. Democrats, meanwhile, heaped scorn on the senator for making gestures toward standing up to the president but not doing so when it counts.”
Two Trials In the Senate
Playbook: “There were two trials going on this week in the Senate: One was an argument among a couple of Ivy-educated lawyers about who did what in Ukraine, who sent what email, when, why and how. This was important. But there was another trial. That one was about raw power, and the structural incentives that rule modern American politics. That was the trial the Republicans won — and many would argue it’s a temporary and hollow victory.”
“What’s right and wrong is not what rules American politics in the modern era — and it’s especially irrelevant in Congress. The parties are geographically sorted. The Republican Party is nearly entirely homogeneous racially and uniform in its fealty to President Trump. The simple reality is this: With rare exception, you cannot win in today’s Republican Party without complete loyalty to the president.”
“Here’s the truth: Republicans are not comfortable with the president’s behavior. They say it privately, some say it publicly on their way out. But they have no incentive to say this aloud no matter how egregious they believe the president’s behavior to be. To win as a Republican in any seat that’s at all marginal, you need to appeal to Republicans to vote.”
Democrats Sow Doubt About Impeachment Trial
“Were it up to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), historians would mention President Trump’s all-but-certain impeachment acquittal much the same way baseball fans mention Barry Bonds’s career home-run record — an achievement destined to be obscured by an eternal cloud,” the Washington Post reports.
“While Trump, unlike Bonds, does not stand accused of benefiting from performance-enhancing drugs, Democrats started this week to make an aggressive case that the Republican-led Senate’s decision Friday to end Trump’s trial without summoning witnesses or documents should cast grave doubt on its outcome.”
Quote of the Day
“For the Senate to tear up the ballots in this election and say President Trump couldn’t be on it, the country probably wouldn’t accept that. It would just pour gasoline on cultural fires that are burning out there.”
— Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), quoted by the New York Times, explaining his vote against calling witnesses at President Trump’s impeachment trial.
Support for Trump’s Removal Remains Steady
As the Senate impeachment trial goes into its third week, support for removing President Trump from office remains steady, with 50% of voters registering approval for his conviction despite his all-but-certain acquittal, according to the latest Politico/Morning Consult poll.
How Republicans Scotched the Idea of Witnesses
Wall Street Journal: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, aided by White House liaisons, exercised a behind-the-scenes campaign in the chamber to keep his members from panicking and breaking en masse from Mr. Trump. Mr. McConnell’s office even advised the president’s legal team throughout the process on which arguments were important to be made on the floor to resonate with certain undecided senators.”
“Mr. Trump stayed largely on the sidelines, heeding advice he had received directly from Mr. McConnell to give fence-sitting Republican senators—who were wary both of crossing the president and appearing browbeaten by him—the space to make their own decisions. But he engaged in some political saber-rattling with tweets about the need for a speedy trial resolution and criticism of Mr. Bolton, which was amplified by conservative allies in the media.”
Said an administration offices: “Once he got over being pissed about this whole thing, he could see the wisdom of sitting still and letting the Senate come to its conclusions.”
Trump Signed Off on McConnell Plan to End Trial
“Before he introduced a resolution laying out the final days of the impeachment trial, Senator Mitch McConnell placed a call to President Trump to run it by him,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, shared the details of the resolution with Mr. Trump, who gave his approval.”
The trial is adjourned until 11am ET, on Monday February 3.
Senate Rejects Witnesses in Impeachment Trial
The U.S. Senate voted 51 to 49 to reject calling new witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the decision makes this a “sham trial.”
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