GOP Senators React to ‘Horrific,’ ‘Riveting’ Video of Capitol Assault With Shock, Whataboutism, And No Changed Minds

Reed RichardsonFeb 10th, 2021, 7:46 pm
 

The ostensible Republican jurors for former President Donald Trump’s insurrection incitement trial offered various reactions to the “horrific” and “riveting” videos of the Capitol assault they witnessed on Wednesday. But whether the GOP Senators expressed shock and horror or brushed it off with complaints about Black Lives Matter and Antifa unrest, the upshot was no discernible movement in the final vote count.

During the evening recess of the trial, CNN’s Congressional correspondent Manu Raju reported on his conversations with some of the Senate Republicans, gauging their response to the shocking new footage of the violence unleashed by the pro-Trump mob. Raju noted several rival themes in the responses, where some expressed legitimate horror and anger at Trump, others wanted to equate the Capitol assault to riots seen over the past summer, but none seemed to change their minds.

“One Republican leader, Roy Blunt (R-MO), who is up for re-election next year, said that — I asked him if what he saw changes his view about the fact that he’s likely to acquit Donald Trump,” Raju explained. “He instead compared what happened in the capitol riot to what happened in the protests that we saw over the summer in Seattle and in Portland and he said he expects the Trump team to bring that up. He said we’ll wait for what they have to say.”

The GOP Senate’s second-highest ranking leader, John Thune (R-SD) offered praise for the House Impeachment Manager’s presentation, according to Raju. “He said that he found it compelling,” the CNN reporter noted. “He said he’s going to listen to both sides of the argument. Thune has also dismissed this, voted against the constitutionality of this trial. He thinks it’s unconstitutional.”

“This time overwhelmingly they are calling this riveting,” Raju said of the GOP Senators he has talked to. “Several of them saying they were shaken by what — even people like Senator Ron Johnson (WI), who is a close Trump ally, saying he was shaken by what he saw. But like Ron Johnson and like many other senators, that doesn’t mean they’re going to change their vote. Johnson himself said he doesn’t blame Trump for what happened, he blames trump supporters, those rioters for coming on their own accord. He does not see a link despite what we are seeing in the video evidence laid out today.”

Moments later, Raju teed up a moment from Sen. Bill Cassidy (TN), who on Tuesday was the lone senator to switch his vote on the constitutionality of the impeachment trial — to now vote in endorsing it.

“There’s so much today that should be taken away. How does one narrow it?” Cassidy said. “But you realize that there were people, insurrectionists, who attempted to affect the peaceful transfer of power. And that should give anyone who loves our republic great pause.”

Likewise, Raju talked to several others in the caucus and tweeted out their reactions to the House Democrats’ argument.

Other reporters also gathered GOP Senate responses, which similarly showed no notable shifts in the whip count against conviction.

Watch the video above, via CNN.

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