Republicans in the Senate said that should House Democrats pass articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump they would make sure to quickly reject them in the chamber, considering the GOP holds the majority in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is required to act on articles of impeachment, but having almost complete authority in the chamber he could make sure that any trial ends as quickly as possible. In order to impeach Trump, a two-thirds majority of 67 votes would be required in the Senate, but Republicans have made abundantly clear that they would never vote in favor of that.
“I think it would be disposed of very quickly,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham. “If it’s based on the Mueller report, or anything like that, it would be quickly disposed of.”
Senator John Cornyn echoed those comments, saying that articles of impeachment brought by the House have no chances of passing in the Senate. As a result of Republicans strong opposition to impeaching the president, Cornyn expressed skepticism that Democrats would even consider initiating impeachment proceedings, The Hill writes.
“It would be defeated. That’s why all they want to do is talk about it. They know what the outcome would be,” he noted.
Their comments come amid increased speculation that Democrats in the House are preparing to introduce articles of impeachment with a growing number of lawmakers calling for removing Trump from office.
Other GOP senators dismissed the notion of impeachment articles as a mere “political exercise,” stressing that they would not give them much time on the floor.
“Why on earth would we give a platform to something that I judge as a purely political exercise?” said Senator Thom Tillis, a member of the Judiciary Committee. “We have to perform our constitutional duty, but if people think that we’re going to try and create a theater that could give you the perception that this is a matter that rises to the level of Watergate, that’s nonsense.”
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