Mod: Hard times for the GOP. If they convict him, the overly emotive QKnuckleheads will have yet another psychotic episode. And if they don't? Then history will place them on the side of treason. McConnell privately says he wants Trump gone as Republicans quietly lobby him to convict (CNNlink): As the House prepares to send articles of impeachment to the Senate on Monday, CNN has learned that dozens of influential Republicans around Washington -- including former top Trump administration officials -- have been quietly lobbying GOP members of Congress to impeach and convict Donald Trump.
The effort is not coordinated but reflects a wider battle inside the
GOP between those loyal to
Trump and those who want to sever ties and ensure he can never run for
President again. The lobbying started in the
House after the
January 6 attack on the
Capitol and in the days leading up to impeachment. But it's now more focused on
Sen. Mitch McConnell, the powerful minority leader who may support convicting
Trump.
"Mitch said to me he wants Trump gone," one Republican member of Congress told CNN. "It is in his political interest to have him gone. It is in the GOP interest to have him gone. The question is, do we get there?"
McConnell had proposed delaying the trial until February, but with the articles coming to the
Senate on
Monday, the process will likely be set in motion sooner. It would take 17
Republicans to join all 50
Democrats in order to convict. While the bar is high, some
GOP sources think there is more of an appetite to punish the former
President than is publicly apparent.
"There were 10
House Republicans who voted for impeachment. There were probably over 150 who supported it," said
Charlie Dent, a former
Republican congressman and
CNN contributor.
The ongoing Republican whisper campaign, according to more than a dozen sources who spoke to CNN, is based on a shared belief that a successful conviction is critical for the future of the Republican party.
Multiple sources describe this moment as a reckoning for the party. "Trump created a cult of personality that is hard to dismantle," said a former senior Republican official. "Conviction could do that."
Mod: More at the link.
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