A small bipartisan group of senators has raised the idea of skipping a potentially lengthy impeachment trial and instead censuring former President Donald Trump, but a top Republican said on Wednesday that it’s not likely to happen.
“I just think it’s so hypothetical at this point,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, told reporters in the Capitol. “The Democrats are very intent on going through the impeachment process. That’s the vote that matters to them.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, made it clear on the Senate floor on Wednesday that censure is not an option.
“I would simply say to all of my colleagues: Make no mistake. There will be a trial, and the evidence against the former president will be presented in living color for the nation and for every one of us to see,” Schumer said. “No one will be able to avert their gaze from what Mr. Trump said and did and the consequences of his actions.
Thune described the bipartisan effort to substitute impeachment for a censure vote as “rumblings but not serious discussion that had support from enough Democrats or Republicans for that matter to make this a realistic option.”
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia paired up to raise the idea of skipping the impeachment trial, which is set to begin on Feb. 9.
Senate sources confirmed that Collins and Kaine are urging fellow lawmakers to consider the alternative in the wake of Tuesday’s vote questioning the constitutionality of putting an ex-president on trial in the Senate.
All 50 Democrats and five Republicans defeated the motion to stop the trial, but 45 Republicans voted for it, sending a strong signal that Trump would be acquitted of one article charging him with inciting an insurrection that led to the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol.
“I think it’s pretty obvious from the vote today that it is extraordinarily unlikely that the president will be convicted. Just do the math,” Collins said on Tuesday.
Kaine said he is working on an alternative that would spare the Senate a lengthy trial and open up the floor to coronavirus aid, which he said is a much bigger priority than punishing Trump. Kaine added that more lawmakers are interested in an alternative after the 45 Republicans signaled a likely acquittal.
It would take 67 votes, including 17 GOP senators, to convict Trump on the impeachment article.
“I think there’s maybe a little more interest now and then could this be an alternative,” Kaine said. “I’ve drafted something. I haven’t filed it yet because I’m trying to get other people’s ideas about what should be in it. But I’m hoping that we might find it, and it could be an alternative.”
The Senate is in the midst of trying to find a path to passing a new round of coronavirus aid, which could require substantial floor time and backroom talks. An impeachment trial is required by the Constitution to meet six days per week, beginning at 1 p.m.
Senate Democratic leaders, however, are determined to carry out the trial, which would put the GOP Senate in a difficult position politically.
On the Senate floor on Wednesday, Schumer criticized the 45 Republicans who voted against starting the impeachment proceedings on constitutional grounds.
Schumer suggested that Republicans could be damaged politically if they vote to acquit Trump.
“And then we will vote,” Schumer said. “We will pass judgment as our solemn duty under the Constitution demands. And in turn, we will all be judged on how we respond.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, was among the senators to vote against proceeding with the trial on constitutional grounds. He told reporters in the Capitol on Wednesday that he plans to “participate” in the Senate trial and “listen to the evidence.”
