Forty-five Republican senators today (Wednesday) voted in favor of a motion to overturn the impeachment trial of former United States President Donald Trump, which is expected to take place in the Senate.
The proposal, which was rejected by the Democratic majority in the upper house of Congress, was submitted by Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who claimed the removal “died before she was born.” The presence of 45 senators alongside Trump is an encouraging sign of the president’s past, of crowding the party lines around him.
To oust a president requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which requires at least 17 Republican senators to support the ouster. The Republican Party opposes the removal for constitutional reasons, most notably the claim that it is not possible or appropriate to remove a president after he has already left office.
In recent weeks, there has been concern in Trump’s entourage that anger over his conduct among senior Republican lawmakers, most notably the Republican leader in Senate Mitch McConnell, will lead to a drift that would allow for impeachment. It now appears that the chances of such a scenario are zero.
The Democratic Party is interested in bringing about Trump’s ouster due to his conduct before the riots that took place in Washington on Friday, January, during which his supporters broke into the Capitol building causing damage and looting the sanctuary of American democracy.
Yesterday, President Biden said that Trump’s impeachment trial should be upheld and that his impeachment “should happen.” Biden made the remarks to CNN, noting that “the Senate has changed a lot since I served there, but I myself have not changed at all.” Biden has in recent weeks preferred not to engage in Trump’s impeachment lawsuit and has allowed Democratic lawmakers to address the issue.