Lawmakers in the Senate chamber on Friday gave Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman a standing ovation following the question and answer session of former President Trump's impeachment trial.
If even five or six GOP senators decide that Trump ought to be convicted, it would be the most bipartisan vote of its kind in American history even as it would be well short of the super-majority required to produce an actual conviction.
GOP strategist Alex Conant, a former adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio
Such a vote would underline the deep fissures in a party that is still trying to grapple with the legacy of the 45th president and with his magnetic hold on the party’s grassroots activists.
In recent weeks, battles over the House leadership position of Rep. Liz Cheney
“I don’t think I’ve gotten any guidance,” Portman said. “Colleagues have stood up and expressed their views, but they’re not representing leadership. . [McConnell] has said, I think this is a vote of conscience. ”
McConnell declined to respond to questions Wednesday about whether he was open to convicting the former president, whom he aligned closely with during Trump’s tenure in the White House.
The GOP leader has described himself as undecided and told reporters during a recent press conference that he was waiting to hear the arguments at trial. Asked if he was still undecided on Wednesday, a spokesman pointed back to his remarks about wanting to hear the case.
The signs that senators aren t calling for witnesses comes as they expect the trial could wrap up as soon as Saturday.
Closing arguments are expected to end Friday. After that, the Senate has up to four hours for questions from senators, and then up to two hours to debate whether to call additional witnesses.
Neither the House managers nor Trump s legal team have closed the door to calling witnesses.
ADVERTISEMENT I don t know. That hasn t been decided yet, if there s a right to call witnesses or anything. They have to debate that later, David Schoen, a member of Trump s defense team, told reporters, asked if they would try to call witnesses.
The groups, including NARAL Pro-Choice America, Ultraviolet, Public Citizen, and the Women’s March, said that creating a $15 minimum wage and eliminating “subminimum wages” for tipped workers would be a start toward ensuring economic equality through wage justice.
“The simple truth is that women, especially Black women, Latina women, Asian American and Pacific Islander women, and Indigenous women, have suffered the worst impacts of the pandemic, and they need to be lifted up in the solutions and relief you draft and ultimately pass in Congress,” they wrote. “If we are to truly build back better, we must build an economy that works for women.”