Republican senators sent their latest signal Tuesday that former president Donald Trump is headed for acquittal in his impeachment trial, with 44 out of 50 of them voting that the Senate doesn’t have jurisdiction to try him. The Republican National Committee followed that up by distributing talking pointsfrom Trump’s legal team.
“Nothing the president said on January 6 was inciteful, let alone impeachable,” one of them read, “and in fact, President Trump urged supporters to exercise their rights ‘peacefully and patriotically.’ ”
That first part might be news to some of the party’s top leaders, though. Although the GOP has rallied around Trump lately, even many GOP senators who appear likely to acquit him have said Trump bore at least some blame for the events of Jan. 6. And that poses problems as Trump’s defense moves beyond constitutionality and into culpability. Continue reading.