DEVELOPING STORY: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is reportedly pleased about impeachment and believes it would be easier to purge President Trump from the Republican Party if he is convicted, The New York Times reports.
The Times, using unnamed sources, said McConnell believes “now is the moment to move on from the weakened lame duck, whom he blames for causing Republicans to lose the Senate.”
Fox News Channel also quoting unnamed sources reports that McConnell is “done” and “furious” with the president.
“The source told Fox News that McConnell has shared with associates that impeachment will help rid the Republican Party of Trump and his movement,” reporter Brooke Singman wrote.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) the third-ranking House Republican earlier today said she would be voting in favor of impeachment.
In a statement, Cheney said Trump “summoned this mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack.”
“Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President,” the Republican conference chair said. “The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
White House officials say as many as 20 Republicans in Congress may vote to impeach the president.
Several GOP sources say tonight that if McConnell supports conviction, Trump almost certainly will be convicted by 67 senators in impeachment trial.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 12, 2021
“If Mitch is a yes, he’s done,” said one Senate Republican who asked to be named. Many Rs are staying mum https://t.co/JOOmuKwhNc