'The president committed impeachable offenses': Republican Sen. Toomey says Trump is no longer fit to serve as US leader - but is uncertain if the Senate will act
Republican Senator Pat Toomey revealed on Saturday he believes President Donald Trump has 'committed impeachable offenses'.
In an interview with Fox, he claimed that Trump was no longer fit to serve after the president this week called on his supporters to 'fight' the election results, causing them to riot on the U.S. Capitol in violent scenes that resulted in the death of five people.
The top Pennsylvania Republican said the president's role in the deadly riot at the Capitol by a violent mob of Trump supporters was worthy of rebuke.
Despite his confidence in Trump's guilt, however, Toomey admitted that he was unsure if the Senate would act on impeachment if it was passed through the House in the remaining eleven days of Trump's presidency.
Republican Senator Pat Toomey, pictured speaking in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday as Joe Biden's win was certified, has said he believes Trump has 'committed impeachable offenses'
He told Fox new believes the president's role, as pictured above, in the deadly riot at the Capitol by a violent mob of Trump supporters was worthy of rebuke
The president urged his supporters during a 'Stop the Steal' rally on Wedneday morning to 'fight' the election result. They proceeded to storm the U.S. Capitol and five people died
GOP Sen. Pat Toomey: “I do think the president committed impeachable offenses” pic.twitter.com/nBx9jlJTdv
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) January 9, 2021
He claimed that he feared that Democrats may 'politicize the process'.
'I do think the president committed impeachable offenses, but I don't know what is going to land on the Senate floor, if anything,' said Toomey.
'I do think the president's behavior this week does disqualify him from serving.'
'I don't know what they are going to send over, and one of the things that I'm concerned about, frankly, is whether the House would completely politicize something,' Toomey added.
Toomey was asked whether Senate Republicans also shared some of the blame for Wednesday's riot in their support for the president, to which he responded: 'I think there’s a lot of soul searching that’s going to have to happen.'
'There are people who perpetrated the big lie that Donald Trump won in a landslide and it’s all been stolen from him. That’s not true,' he said.
Toomey added that there was 'a compounding of dishonesty' by those who claimed that the Congress vote on the Electoral College 'could result in a different outcome and therefore it was reasonable to try to pressure lawmakers'.
'That was never going to happen. That was never possible. And so to willfully mislead people about that, that’s a real problem,' he continued.
The senator, who is the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, has already announced that he is not running for reelection next year.
He was among the Republicans leading the opposition to attempts from his GOP colleagues to overturn the election results when Congress voted to certify Joe Biden's win on Wednesday.
During the interview with Fox, Toomey also revealed that he believed the GOP had lost control of the Senate because Trump's unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud had caused a small GOP turnout in the two run-off races in Georgia on Tuesday.
'We lost those races because the races were about Donald Trump and not about our candidates,' the senator claimed.
'I think we had better candidates. He had a very, very good rationale to present to the voters, which is you don't want to risk the Democrats who have gone to this extreme left in recent years, you don't want to give them power.'
Toomey alleged that the message 'got eclipsed' by the voter fraud claims.
'We had turnout problems. It's hard to turn out voters when you're telling them that the election is rigged against them anyway. It's not a great message to inspire people to go to the polls,' he said.
'I think we could have won both of those races.'
On Saturday, it was revealed that House Democrats will circulate an article of impeachment charging President Trump with 'incitement of insurrection' on Monday.
It came after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told his Republican colleagues in the upper chamber that the earliest a second trial would begin is Inauguration Day.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had written a letter to colleagues on Friday in which she said that she would proceed with the impeachment process if Trump did not leave office 'imminently and willingly'.
Toomey spoke out about Wednesday's violence and rioting on Twitter
He was also a vocal opponent to his GOP colleagues attempts to overturn the result
House Rep. Ted Lieu of California announced on his Twitter feed on Saturday that 180 members of Congress have signed as co-sponsors of the article of impeachment that he helped draft alongside fellow House Reps. Jamie Raskin and David Cicilline.
Lieu, a Democrat, wrote that his party will introduce the article of impeachment during the House's pro forma session on Monday.
Lieu said that while all 180 co-sponsors are Democrats, he is confident that Republican members of the House will support to impeach.
'We strongly believe some GOP legislators will vote for the Article of Impeachment based on what they informed us confidentially,' Lieu told Forbes.
While the Democrats could now count Toomey onside, two other Republican sentors have also voice a willingness to see Trump impeached.
On CBS This Morning, Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska said that he believed 'the president has disregarded his oath of office'.
He added that he would 'definitely consider whatever articles they might move' when asked about the Democrats potential actions in the House.
Sasse added that he 'swore an oath to the American people to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution' and claimed that the president 'acted against that'.
Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska discusses a possible second impeachment of President Donald Trump on CBS This Morning and expressed his willingness
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, pictured above, has also demanded that the president resign suggesting she could be swayed to vote on impeachment
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has also demanded that the president resign suggesting she could be swayed to vote on impeachment.
'I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage,' she told the Anchorage Daily News on Friday.
A vote in the House could possibly come by Wednesday - exactly one week before Democrat Joe Biden becomes president at noon on Jan. 20.
The articles, if passed by the House, would then be transmitted to the Senate for a trial, with senators acting as jurors who would ultimately vote on whether to acquit or convict Trump.
If convicted, Trump would be removed from office and succeeded by the vice president.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, shared no details about her party's plans as she addressed her hometown San Francisco constituents during an online video conference on Saturday.
'Justice will be done. Democracy will prevail. And America will be healed,' she said. 'But it is a decision that we have to make.'
Republicans are not standing with Trump following Wednesday's riot on the Capitol, pictured
Trump could potentially become the first U.S. President to ever be impeached twice after he was accused of having incited the violence that broke out Wednesday, pictured above
Trump would become the first U.S. President to ever be impeached twice if it is voted through.
No president has ever been removed from office after being impeached.
After spending many weeks refusing to concede defeat in the November election, Trump promised - after the Capitol riot - to oversee a smooth transfer of power to Biden.
He called for reconciliation and healing, but then announced he will not attend the inauguration - the first such presidential snub since just after the Civil War.
Trump has few fellow Republicans speaking out in his defense.
He's become increasingly isolated, holed up in the White House as he has been abandoned in the aftermath of the riot by many aides, leading Republicans and, so far, two Cabinet members - both women.
Biden, meanwhile, reiterated that he has long viewed Trump as unfit for office. But on Friday he sidestepped a question about impeachment, saying what Congress does 'is for them to decide'.
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