Senate Republicans are confiding in reporters a growing sense of unease about President Trump’s decisions that align with Russian priorities at the expense of U.S. interests.
Veteran investigative journalist Carl Bernstein reported Monday that members of Trump’s own party are “deeply disturbed” by what they have witnessed so far in House impeachment proceedings.
“What we have seen through these impeachment testimonies is what has so many Republican senators, and I’ve talked to a few — quite a few and so have other reporters, they are deeply disturbed at what they have learned again about the president of the United States’ willingness to serve the interest of Russia and Vladimir Putin,” he said on CNN.
Bernstein outlined how the Russia question has been a relentless source of consternation for GOP members of the Senate. He listed off examples, including Trump’s 2018 Helsinki summit in which he sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the U.S. Intelligence Community’s assessment about election interference, and more recently, the U.S. troop withdrawal in Syria that gave way to Turkey attacking Kurdish allies in the region.
Dating back to the 2016 election, Trump has faced questions about whether he colluded with the Russians. Special counsel Robert Mueller found Russia sought to undermine former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in favor of Trump but did not find sufficient evidence to show a criminal conspiracy between members of Trump’s team and the Kremlin.
But the disquieted feeling described by Bernstein is now said to be surging due to the Ukraine case at the center of the House Democrats’ impeachment effort where Russia’s shadow looms large. Investigators are looking into whether Trump abused his office by leveraging nearly $400 million in security aid meant to counter Russian aggression and a White House meeting with the Ukrainian president to coerce the former Soviet republic into conducting investigations into his political rivals.
“With you, Mr. President, all roads lead to Putin,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week.
If the House passes articles of impeachment, the case will move to a trial phase in the Senate where Republican leaders have signaled Trump is in no danger of being removed from office.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Monday he “can’t imagine a scenario under which President Trump would be removed from office with 67 votes in the Senate.”
Bernstein and fellow Watergate sleuth Bob Woodward have still reported that cracks exist in Trump’s GOP firewall in the Senate, which are magnified by the 2020 election.
“I know Republican senators, and they are choking on this,” Woodward said last month, referring to the burgeoning Ukraine scandal. “Whether they say that’s too much, I don’t know.”
Bernstein said the key question Republicans are asking is whether Trump is “witting,” “unwitting,” or “half witting” in serving Putin’s interests.
