Former Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake said that “at least 35” GOP senators would vote to impeach President Trump if it was a private vote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry on Tuesday. The call came amid a scandal alleging Trump improperly pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating potential 2020 opponent Joe Biden, and his son Hunter Biden. Both a transcript of the conversation and a copy of the whistleblower complaint that initiated the debacle have been made public in the aftermath of the speaker’s announcement.
“I heard someone say if there were a private vote [on impeachment in the Senate] there would be 30 Republican votes. That’s not true. There would be at least 35,” Flake stated during the live recording of Slate’s What Next podcast at the Texas Tribune‘s TribFest, Thursday.
If the House’s inquiry leads to a vote on articles of impeachment and it passes the simple majority threshold, it would move to the Senate for a trial. A Senate trial over impeachment would require a two-thirds vote, or a minimum of 67 votes to remove Trump from office. With Democrats and independents making up 47 of the 100 Senate seats, it would take a minimum of 20 Republicans and every Democrat and independent voting in favor of Trump’s removal for it to happen.
Flake, who had a very tumultuous relationship with the president before he retired from the senate in 2018, revealed last month that he’s considering voting for a Democrat or a third party candidate in 2020, but also that he’d like “for the Republican Party to nominate someone else.”
The Democrats he’d entertain voting for are Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and former Vice President Joe Biden.
