Republican Party Lose Voting, A Good Bode For Donald Trump?

Donald Trump. (Sumber: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - The Republican Party's attempt to question the constitutionality of the impeachment trial against former President of the United States (US) Donald Trump failed. This is after a motion by Republican Senator Rand Paul, which asks the US Senate to hold a vote on whether the impeachment trial will be constitutional or not.

As a result, 55 senate members said the upcoming impeachment trial was constitutional compared to 45 who said no. There are five Republican Senators who joined the Democratic Party in the vote held on Tuesday, January 26 local time.

Mitt Romney, Ben Sassse, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Pat Toomey are the five Republican Senators who have declared the upcoming impeachment trial constitutional.

However, the defeat of Paul's efforts could be an early sign that Trump will not be convicted of guilt during the riots on Capitol Hill last January 6. This is because in the future 17 votes from the Republican Party will be needed in the impeachment trial which will start on 9 February.

“This is one of the few times in Washington where defeat is actually a win. "Forty-five votes, meaning the impeachment trial was dead on arrival," Paul said as reported by Reuters.

But several Republican Senators who supported Paul's motion said their vote on Tuesday did not show how they could judge Trump's guilt or innocence once the impeachment trial began.

"This is a completely different matter as far as I am concerned," Republican Senator Rob Portman told reporters.

For your information, Paul and other Republican Party members argue that the impeachment process this time is unconstitutional, because Trump left office on January 20. Then, the trial will be overseen by Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy instead of US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

Experts in the United States themselves consider impeachment of the former president to be constitutional. This is because the former president is not immune to the process stipulated in the Constitution to hold him accountable. This is because impeachment may result in disqualification from future positions.