CNN’s Manu Raju Reports Likelihood Senate Votes to Convict Trump Is ‘Extremely Slim’ Ahead of Impeachment Trial

The impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump is set to begin within the next few weeks, and the big lingering question is whether the anger Mitch McConnell has privately felt towards Trump would be enough to end up with a conviction joined in by a sufficient percentage of Republicans.

As CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju reported Friday, it’s not very likely.

Raju spoke with Brooke Baldwin about the negotiations over when the trial officially begins, after the House sends over the article of impeachment, and the question of how long it could take in the first month of the Joe Biden presidency.

He went on to throw some cold water on the idea there are enough Republicans at this point to get a conviction:

“They would need 17 Republicans at least to join with 50 Democrats, if they all stay united, in order to convict Trump and then vote to later bar him from any sort of office again on the charge of inciting an insurrection that led to the deadly riot here on Capitol Hill on January 6th. But in talking to more than a dozen Republicans, it is clear, Brooke, that the chances of convicting Donald Trump is extremely slim. Most Republicans believe that Trump should be acquitted on various grounds. Some believe it’s unconstitutional to go after a former president. Others believe former president Trump did not, in their view, get enough due process and are questioning about the talk of expediting the trial proceedings in the Senate. Others are squarely in the Trump camp. So where they get the 17 Republicans remains an open question.”

Raju also noted that McConnell has apparently not taken a position yet on whether he would vote to convict, but added it’s unlikely at this point.

You can watch above, via CNN.