The House is set to take up impeachment article on Wednesday

* The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP (Grand Old Party),

GOP sources say there is a 'better than 50/50' chance Mitch McConnell votes to convict Trump in impeachment trial because he 'wants him purged from the GOP' - as Liz Cheney says she wants president removed

• McConnell believes the time is right to move against the 'lame duck' president
• Tuesday night it was reported McConnell has a 'better than 50-50 chance' of voting to convict Trump in an impeachment trial
• On Tuesday Rep. Liz Cheney, the House's third-ranking Republican, announced that she would vote for impeaching Trump
• Two-thirds of the Senate – or 17 Republicans - would have to vote to convict
• Trial could overlap with start of Joe Biden's term
• Trump denied responsibility for the Capitol riots and defended his comments
• The House is set to take up impeachment article on Wednesday
• Follows resignation of 3 Trump cabinet members, including McConnell's wife
• FBI investigating massive breach, possible murder, sedition, conspiracy charges

By GEOFF EARLE, DEPUTY U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 08:59 AEDT, 13 January 2021 | UPDATED: 18:03 AEDT, 13 January 2021

 

There’s a better than 50-50 chance Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will vote to convict President Donald Trump in an impeachment trial, according to a new report.

McConnell appears to be more set on convicting Trump in an extraordinary turn against the president in the wake of last week's Capitol riot.

A Tuesday night report from Axios cited a top Republican close to McConnell saying, 'The Senate institutional loyalists are fomenting a counterrevolution' to Trump.

 

McConnell has been signaling support for the House Democratic impeachment effort that includes an article charging the president with 'incitement of insurrection'.

The news comes on the heels of a New York Times report that McConnell told associates he believes Trump 'committed impeachable offenses' and he’s 'pleased' by the move to impeach him.

Also on Tuesday Rep. Liz Cheney, the House's third-ranking Republican, announced that she would vote for impeaching President Trump.

'On January 6, 2021 a violent mob attacked the United States Capitol to obstruct the process of our democracy and stop the counting of presidential electoral votes. This insurrection caused injury, death and destruction in the most sacred space in our Republic,' wrote Cheney, the daughter of the former vice president.

 

+15

 

U.S. President Donald Trump disembarks from Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, after visiting the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Harlingen, Texas, Tuesday

+15

 

President Donald Trump returns to the White House on Marine One in Washington, D.C Tuesday

+15

 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is signaling support for the House Democratic impeachment effort that includes an article charging the president with 'incitement of insurrection'. Trump retyrns to the White House on Tuesday evening

+15

 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denounced Trump's election challenge in a speech last week after a mob egged on by Trump invaded the U.S. Capitol

+15

 

Also on Tuesday Rep. Liz Cheney, the House's third-ranking Republican, announced that she would vote for impeaching President Trump

 

'Much more will become clear in coming days and weeks, but what we know now is enough. The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,' she continued.

'I will vote to impeach the President,' Cheney concluded.

Word of the powerful Senate Republican's posture came Tuesday as the House prepared prepared to take up an impeachment article Wednesday – with signs that several Republicans will back it.

McConnell worked successfully to scuttle the impeachment effort during a trial last year on different charges. His current view follows reports that McConnell never wants to speak to Trump again after the Capitol riots that had Trump supporters invading the Capitol, trashing leadership offices, and endangering the lives of lawmakers.

McConnell backs the effort because it will make it easier to purge Trump from the party, the New York Times reports.

One feature of impeachment – which can grind the Senate to a halt and lead to furious partisan arguments – is that it allows lawmakers to vote to prohibit the person being impeached from ever holding public office with the U.S. government.

Trump may run for president in 2024, and many of his potential rivals happen to hold Senate seats.

McConnell has made clear in private discussions that 'now is the moment to move on the weakened lame duck, whom he blames for Republicans losing the Senate,' according to the report.

His view emerged as Trump, rather than express contrition, called impeachment a 'hoax' and a 'witch hunt,' and defended his pre-riot comments that Democrats have already said was incitement. Trump called his speech minutes before the siege 'totally appropriate.'