White House counselor Kellyanne Conway was dispatched to Capitol Hill to reassure Senate Republicans as President Trump looks for a clean Senate GOP sweep against impeachment.
House Republicans were expected to unanimously oppose two articles of impeachment in a late Wednesday floor vote. Conway, during a private luncheon with Senate Republicans, reviewed a spate of fresh public opinion polls showing stagnant or diminished support for impeaching Trump. Republicans who attended said Conway sought to make them comfortable with voting to acquit on the conclusion of the Senate trial, expected to begin early next month.
“Increasingly, the polling is going in favor of no impeachment and removal from office,” Conway told reporters after exiting the Senate GOP lunch. “Obviously, the independents are very much against impeachment and removal from office. Those numbers have flipped in the opposite direction.”
In additional comments to reporters at the White House, Conway volunteered that she shared with Senate Republicans news stories and social media posts about Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump has defended asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, which motivated Democrats to launch the impeachment process, as a legitimate request to uncover the extent of Hunter Biden’s questionable business dealings with a Ukrainian energy company.
“When the president says, ‘People were talking about Biden and his son,’ you bet they were,” Conway said.
She said her discussion with Senate Republicans included Trump’s recent legislative accomplishments and key issues on his agenda, such as trade and the massive spending bill he is expected to sign. Conway said that Trump is “having two of the best weeks of his presidency” despite impeachment.
In the polling average compiled by FiveThirtyEight, support for impeachment was 47.2%, a statistical tie with surveys showing opposition at 46.5%.
Some Senate Republicans said that Conway’s polling review was hardly necessary to keep most, if not all, of their GOP colleagues from being swayed by the Democrats’ arguments for impeachment. That is a change from where Senate Republicans stood on Sept. 24, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the beginning of the impeachment investigation.
“There’s more solidarity, in my opinion, in the conference than what there was a month ago, and it’s been building to where I think the case has just fallen apart,” Sen. Mike Braun, an Indiana Republican, said.
Sen. David Perdue said it is possible that all 53 Senate Republicans will vote to acquit Trump. “Eight weeks ago, we didn’t see what a weak case these guys had,” the Georgia Republican said. “When you see how weak these two articles are — I would hope that all 53 would stand firm on this.”
