Republican Rand Paul, in the US Senate AP
Before entering the House, Republican Senator Rand Paul declared that
the House
impeachment
bill was stillborn.
His statement came true when, shortly after, he forced a vote in the Senate on the unconstitutionality of the impeachment against Donald Trump.
Forty-five of the total of 50 senators joined Paul and showed the almost certain exoneration of the already ex-president when the trial begins on February 9.
More than a third of the Senate opposes trying Trump.
When the procedural act of taking the oath of the senators who are going to try Trump to take place this Monday, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul raised an objection.
Paul stated that the
impeachment
is designed for someone in office in power and that Trump is no longer president.
To that argument, in addition, the senator from Kentucky added the fact that he considered that "the trial will condemn our country to sink into the sewers of rancor and criticism, something that has never happened before in the history of the nation."
To the Democratic surprise at Paul's discrepancy, those asked for a vote to overturn the proposal of the Kentucky politician and that was when 45 Republican senators declared that they considered the
impeachment of
the president
unconstitutional
.
Just Mitt Romney from Utah;
Ben Sasse of Nebraska;
Susan Collins from Maine;
Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania left the Republican Party and sided with the Democrats.
What the vote that took place this Monday afternoon in Washington in the Senate proves is the future and the result that awaits the
impeachment
against Donald Trump: exoneration.
And for the second time.
For the ex-president to be convicted of "incitement to insurrection" - the position he was charged with after the assault on Congress on January 6 - a qualified majority of votes is required in the Senate, which would mean that 17 Republican senators they should vote in line with the Democrats next February.
Significantly, since all this time he has been stating that he had not decided whether or not Trump should be prosecuted, the all-powerful Mitch McConnell, former Senate Majority Leader, sided with Paul's proposal, indicating that you agree with the unconstitutionality of the
impeachment
.
