McConnell s decision, confirmed to The Hill by a GOP senator, comes hours before the Senate is expected to take a final vote on whether to convict Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors over an article accusing him of inciting insurrection during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
McConnell has criticized Trump s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including saying the former president provoked the mob. He disclosed to reporters last month that he hadn t spoken to Trump, with whom he aligned himself closely for years, since Dec. 15.
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But he also kept his caucus guessing on how he would ultimately vote, saying that he wanted to listen to the arguments from both House impeachment managers and Trump s legal team.
Senators voted 57-43 on whether to convict Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors for “willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States.”
Every Democrat voted to find him “guilty,” the question technically before the Senate, and they were joined by seven GOP senators falling short of the necessary 67 votes, or two-thirds majority, needed for conviction.
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The vote comes roughly five weeks after the attack on Jan. 6, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in an effort to stop the counting of President Biden
The aftermath of the attack is still visible around the Capitol, where a fenced perimeter surrounds Capitol Hill and National Guard troops remain stationed around the complex.
By Alexander Bolton and Amie Parnes - 02/06/21 06:05 AM EST
Senate Republicans are venting their frustration over what they see as long odds to negotiate a bipartisan COVID-19 relief bill with President Biden by blaming his staff for standing in the way.
Republican senators who met with Biden at the White House on Monday told colleagues after the meeting that White House chief of staff Ron Klain
“There’s certainly a mixed signal from him on the unity message,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer
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Cramer said Biden was “very engaged and well-prepared” for the meeting “but I also heard that his chief of staff stood at the back of the room and shook his head ‘no’ for every point.”
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The president, in other words, has spent his time throwing lit matches on gasoline. On Wednesday, the fire took hold.
Protesters invaded the Capitol building. Lawmakers were told to shelter in place. Gas masks were issued. One woman who was shot at the Capitol later died.
The imagery that emerged in news reports police inside the Capitol building with pistols drawn, trying to keep the mob at bay rivaled anything seen during previous American crises in its shock value.
Yet there was something grimly predictable about the events, too.
The national fabric is at least as frayed and tattered as it ever was during other times of American tumult, such as the civil rights era, the war in Vietnam or Watergate.