(CNN) – Six Republicans joined Democrats on Tuesday to approve that impeachment against former President Donald Trump is constitutional. Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy was the only Republican to change his vote after an initial vote on constitutionality last month.
The last 56-44 vote marked the closing chapter of the impeachment procedure on Tuesday. The proceedings were suspended until Wednesday noon. All but six Republican senators voted the process unconstitutional because Trump is no longer president. It was the second time such a vote had been taken after Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, forced a vote on the same issue last month.
These are the Republican senators who voted that the impeachment was in accordance with the constitution:
- Susan Collins, Republican of Maine.
- Bill Cassidy, republicano de Louisiana
- Lisa Murkowski, Alaska Republican
- Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah
- Ben Sasse, a Republican in Nebraska
- Pat Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania
Cassidy told CNN Tuesday after House prosecutors presented before the trial that it was a “very good opening” and that they had strong arguments. During their presentation, prosecutors showed how rioters violently raped the United States Capitol and assaulted police officers, calling out Trump’s name as they attempted to disrupt the certification of the November election.
“The House prosecutors were concentrated, they were organized” and “made a convincing case,” Cassidy said after the vote. In contrast, he added, “President Trump’s team was disorganized. They did everything they could except talk about the issue at stake and when they spoke about it they slipped away, almost as if they were ashamed of their arguments.
Trump’s lawyers’ arguments against impeachment
Several Republican senators criticized the arguments of Trump’s legal team, saying they were lackluster. Murkowski said she was “really shocked by the first attorney to come forward on behalf of former President Trump,” attorney Bruce Castor.
“I couldn’t understand where I was going, I spent 45 minutes going somewhere, but I don’t think it helped us better understand where I was coming from in terms of the constitutionality of this,” he added. “And I felt that [el también abogado de Trump, David] Schoen did … better, but I think they definitely missed an opportunity with their first attorney there.
Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn said bluntly to reporters, “I thought the president’s attorney, the first attorney, was wandering over and over again and didn’t really get into the constitutional argument; finally the second lawyer did it, and I thought he was doing well. Cornyn quickly added, ‘But I’ve seen a lot of lawyers and a lot of arguments and it wasn’t one of the best I’ve seen.’
Trump was unhappy with Castor’s opening argument in the Senate, according to two people familiar with his response. Trump almost screamed when Castor put forth meandering arguments that he was struggling to get to the heart of his defense team’s argument, which would be about the constitutionality of holding a trial for a president who is no longer in office.
Schoen, who spoke second, would initially present first, not Castor, according to two people familiar with the plan.
The Senate postponed the first attempt by Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, late last month to enforce a vote on the constitutionality of the process, but the vote offered an indication of how Republican senators, overwhelmingly in favor have voted Paul’s measure, are thinking about impeachment.
Paul’s motion was rejected in a vote of 55-45, with five Republicans joining all Democrats, meaning 45 Republicans voted for Paul’s effort. Romney, Sasse, Collins, Murkowski and Toomey crossed party lines to join that vote with the Democrats.
Kristin Wilson, Jeremy Herb, Lauren Fox, Clare Foran, Ted Barrett, Kaitlan Collins, Annie Grayer and Sarah Fortinsky the CNN are valuable contributions.