Sen. Lindsey Graham is leading the charge against President Donald Trump’s impeachment and removal in the Senate, even as the White House remains largely uninvolved and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested he's open to voting to convict the president.
McConnell is taking a markedly different approach. In a letter to Republican senators on Wednesday, the Kentucky Republican did not immediately reject the House’s impeachment of Trump and said he plans to weigh the opposing views during the trial. He also urged his colleagues to keep their powder dry in the runup to the trial.
"Given the history, rules, and Senate precedents governing presidential impeachment trials, there has never been any chance that any fair or appropriate trial would conclude before President-elect Biden is sworn in," McConnell wrote. "Whether it were to begin this week, next week, or later, the trial will not end until after the President has left office. This is simply a fact.
A two-thirds majority is required to convict and remove the president, meaning 17 Republicans would need to join all Democrats. It's unclear whether the numbers would be there, but if McConnell did vote to convict, it would increase the likelihood others would follow. But as the House was preparing a vote to impeach Trump on Wednesday, few Republicans were openly defending the president. Instead, some were haranguing the House’s impeachment process as rushed and unfair, and arguing that the Democrat-led efforts would further divide the country.
Graham has the intelligence of a ping pong ball
Lindsay Graham is a silly person
Complicit traitor
Graham talks out of both sides of his mouth