Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday he thought Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s speech blasting former President Donald Trump would be used against Republicans in campaign ads next year when the party fights to reclaim the Senate.
“He got a load off his chest, obviously, but unfortunately he put a load on the back of Republicans,” Graham, a staunch Trump defender, told Fox News Sunday. “That speech you will see in 2022 campaigns.”
Although McConnell, R-Ky., voted for acquittal, he said Trump’s “crescendo of conspiracy theories” and false claims of a stolen election led to the riots in which his supporters rampaged through Capitol, bloodied police, tried to hunt down House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and chanted about murdering Vice President Mike Pence.
“They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on earth because he was angry he had lost an election,” McConnell said. “Former President Trump’s actions preceded the riot for a disgraceful dereliction of duty.”
Graham said he viewed McConnell’s speech as “an outlier regarding how Republicans feel about all this.”
– Bart Jansen
Democrats, GOP look to move on after Trump acquittal
The impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump is over and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they hope to move forward, concentrating on the plethora of competing crises in the country.
Trump was acquitted in a 57-43 vote Saturday of inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last month. The Senate trial was historic, marking the first time a president had been impeached and tried twice, and the vote marked the most bipartisan push for conviction of a president in U.S. history, with seven Republicans joining all Democrats to convict.
Democrats had argued that before the country and members of Congress could heal and move forward, Trump needed to be held accountable through the impeachment process. Now, they say, the country can move forward. And there’s a lot to focus on, including the still raging COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who led the House impeachment prosecution team, said his focus would now be on the future. “From here,” he said, “it’s time for us to get back to real democracy.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the House would be moving “forward to make sure that this never happens again” and would “investigate and evaluate what caused this” in terms of the motivation of the rioters who stormed the building and of the security at the Capitol.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said in a statement now that impeachment was done, “it’s time to get back to work.” Fellow Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas agreed, saying he hoped the end of this process would “allow temperatures to finally settle and for us to work in a bipartisan fashion moving forward.”
“It’s true, we face many challenges ahead as a nation. But, I remain confident there are brighter days ahead,” he added. “It’s time for Congress to get back to the work of the American people.”
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., agreed and argued that even while Congress and the country was officially turning the page on the Trump presidency with Saturday’s acquittal vote, Congress still had to do its oversight work of his four years in office.
“As much as I’d like to turn the page from the disgraceful Trump era, Congress still must perform its investigative and oversight responsibilities to determine all the facts and uncover evidence that has been concealed,” he said.
What’s next after Trump acquittal?
WASHINGTON – The question on everyone’s lips after the Senate voted Saturday to acquit former President Donald Trump was: What now?
The riot Jan. 6 at the Capitol revealed festering, violent anger over national politics. The House charged Trump with inciting the insurrection that left five dead. But while a majority of the Senate voted to convict, it fell short of the two-thirds majority required…