Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: If McConnell Signals He Will Convict Trump, Republicans Will Follow Suit

Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing On Crossfire Hurricane — Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about the Crossfire Hurricane investigation on Capitol Hill November 10, 2020 in Washington, DC. Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe testified about the FBI counter-intelligence probe into possible contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russian officials in an attempt to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

Zoe Mathews is a producer for Boston Public Radio and the producer of The Scrum podcast.

January 15, 2021

Updated August 07, 2023

When the House voted to impeach President Donald Trump this week for his role in inciting an insurrection on the Capitol, 10 Republican representatives joined Democrats in voting for impeachment, making it the most bipartisan such vote in American history.

In order to convict Trump, 17 Republican senators will need to join Democrats. Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse from Rhode Island told Boston Public Radio on Friday the outcome of the trial rests on how outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell acts in the days and weeks ahead.

"The big indicator is going to be Leader McConnell. If Mitch McConnell decides to vote to convict, then I think 17 is quite realistic," he said. "I've urged managers to treat this as a case that they can win, and I think a lot of it is going to depend on the signal Mitch McConnell sends on the days ahead, and leading up to, and by his vote."

The trial is set to overlap with the early days of Joe Biden's presidency. Biden has raised the idea of a "bifurcation" of Senate duties, dedicating morning hours to impeachment hearings and afternoon hours to things like confirming his cabinet and discussing policy proposals.

Whitehouse said he did not expect the trial to extend into a lengthy ordeal.

"If it does, that will be Mitch McConnell's choice and strategy, and I'm not sure that's the way he wants to open his relationship with the Biden administration. It's nuisance value without any real gain for him," he said. "I also think the House managers are pretty clear that any senator who doesn't already know what happened that day has really not paid attention."

Whitehouse said he expects the House managers' case against Trump will be much more straightforward than in the previous impeachment, which required multiple hearings to determine the nature of the indiscretion, ultimately resulting in Trump's impeachment for pressuring Ukraine's leader to find information to help him win re-election.

This time around, Whitehouse said, the events happened on our shores and were broadcast live on national TV: Trump held a rally in which he directed his supporters to march to the Capitol and interrupt Congress while they were certifying Biden's Electoral College victory.

"It's not at all clear that Trump is going to mount much of a defense, I don't know who would represent him," said Whitehouse. "We're allowed to shrink the amount of time that we dedicate to this trial, so long as both sides are getting treated equally."