Report: There's a 'better than 50-50 chance' McConnell would vote to convict Trump

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

published 13 January 2021

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is taking the idea of an impeachment trial seriously, and there is "a better than 50-50 chance" he would vote to convict President Trump, Axios reported Tuesday night.

One high-ranking Republican close to McConnell said the "Senate institutional loyalists are fomenting a counterrevolution to Trump," and one way to keep him from running for president again would be to convict him in a Senate trial.

Earlier Tuesday, The New York Times reported that McConnell believes Trump did commit impeachable offenses when he incited supporters to storm the Capitol last week, and thinks an impeachment would push the president out of the GOP. Fox News later confirmed the report, saying McConnell has finally decided to break from Trump and is "done" with him. McConnell has yet to publicly call on Trump to resign or say he is in favor of impeachment.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.