Whatever suspense remained in the Senate impeachment trial drained out of it with this revelation. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had played his cards close to the vest all along, but this morning sent an e-mail to his caucus declaring his intent to vote to acquit Donald Trump. That puts an end to Senate Democrats’ hopes to get McConnell to pull the necessary 16 other Republicans across the aisle for a conviction and disqualification:

News: in email to colleagues McConnell says he will vote to acquit Trump, per two sources familiar

— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) February 13, 2021

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has told GOP colleagues in a letter that he will vote to acquit Donald Trump in the former president’s impeachment trial, according to sources familiar with the communication.

CNN’s Manu Raju got the same word from his sources. McConnell plans to offer a lengthier explanation on the Senate floor:

McConnell had been going this direction for weeks. And despite all the speculation that he might convict, it’s been clear he would be with his conference. He’s expected to speak on the floor later today

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 13, 2021

Oh, it’s not been all that clear. McConnell remained coy throughout, and his signal to his caucus to disconnect their decision on the trial from the issue of constitutionality — or at least suggesting that their earlier vote didn’t commit them to a position — was taken as a sign that he was still considering his own vote. Instead, as I wrote at the time, McConnell appears to have been wisely shaping the battleground to give Senate Republicans the best PR cover for whatever vote they each decided to cast.

With McConnell voting for acquittal, there won’t be more than six Republican votes to acquit in the Senate. And perhaps not even that many; Bill Cassidy voted to approve the trial on constitutional grounds, but he’s clearly been leaning away from conviction ever since. One has to wonder how well the presumed conviction caucus of Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Pat Toomey, and Rob Portman will hold together after McConnell’s decision.

There wasn’t much suspense to this anyway, but what little there was has dissipated. The only question now will be whether Senate Democrats attempt a censure as part of their bill-of-attainder strategy, or whether they just pursue a straight censure as a consolation prize. The latter might get past a filibuster, but the former will certainly not — and might not even get the conviction caucus on board for that blatantly unconstitutional maneuver.

Update: McConnell’s going with the defense’s strongest argument:

BREAKING: Senate Minority Leader McConnell has informed Republican senators he is planning to vote to acquit Pres. Trump, sources tell @NBCNews.

“I am persuaded that impeachments are a tool primarily of removal and we therefore lack jurisdiction,” McConnell wrote in an email.

— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 13, 2021

Update: Here’s the full message McConnell sent his caucus. In it, he addressed “the otherwise troubling January exception” by saying that Trump could be prosecuted for any crimes he may have committed:

McConnell says it was a “close call” but says impeachment is “primarily a tool of removal” and the Senate lacks jurisdiction . He says criminal conduct by a president in office can be prosecuted when the president is out of office pic.twitter.com/JGMTjCp2OL

— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) February 13, 2021

Perhaps, but the spectacle of a successor DoJ going after the current president’s immediate predecessor would be viciously partisan no matter how well-founded. Gerald Ford understood that and pardoned Richard Nixon to avoid it. At the very least, this opens up an opportunity for Congress and the states to amend the Constitution so that the issues of jurisdiction in instances such as the “January exception” are much more detailed and defined than they are now.

Update: Now that the cat’s out of the bag, Senate Democrats now want to call witnesses — in the middle of closing arguments. Four Republicans crossed the aisle to support the measure:

55-45, Senate votes to allow witnesses https://t.co/vlOcnfCtkA

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 13, 2021

It’s an odd time to reverse their position. The House called no witnesses for its impeachment, and both House managers and Senate Democrats insisted that members themselves were the only witnesses necessary. Perhaps now that McConnell has made his position known, Democrats want to get as much on the record as possible first.

Update: What an embarrassment. After forcing the issue and winning a vote on witnesses, Senate Democrats caved when Republicans threatened to put several Democrats under oath. Instead, they’ll just submit a statement and call it a day — literally:

#Breaking — A deal appears to have been reached to avoid witness testimony. Trump attorney says they're OK if Rep. @HerreraBeutler's recollection of Trump-McCarthy call gets submitted into the record.

Raskin reading her account into record now.

More details to follow

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 13, 2021

#BREAKING — No witnesses.

Trial set to end today.

Trump will be acquitted today

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 13, 2021

What an unbelievable cave by Democrats here.

They cleared the first witness vote — and then decided that they wouldn’t call witnesses.

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) February 13, 2021

Democrats get huge leverage out of nowhere and back down with just one written statement?

— Doug Heye (@DougHeye) February 13, 2021

Looks like Lindsey Graham’s threat to call lots of witnesses and tie up the Senate for weeks paid off. Trump’s attorneys also threatened to call hundreds of witnesses. After peering into that abyss, Democrats proved they weren’t serious about this trial, either.

Up next: as much as four hours of debate and the final end to this farce.