“He’s just letting the conference kind of cool down after the certification,” said one GOP senator of McConnell. With so much uncertainty about when the trial will start and handing power off to Democrats, “all we’d be doing is having the circular discussions, what ifs.”
Another senator said there’s been little member-to-member contact among the rank and file too as everyone processes the last two weeks, including the remote possibility of 17 GOP senators joining Democrats to convict the president of impeachment and prevent him from ever holding public office again.
And after McConnell helped lead the defense, coordinated with the White House and declared there was “no chance” of convicting Trump at the president’s trial just a year ago, the majority leader is keeping an open mind about whether to convict the president of “incitement of insurrection,” associates say. Other than a Dear Colleague letter he penned on Wednesday, there’s been little overall instruction from the current majority leader to his members.
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