JUST IN: ‘Better Than 50/50 Chance’ Mitch McConnell Will Vote to Convict Trump: Report

Photo credit: Drew Angerer, Getty Images.

The last act of Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell may very well be to throw out the president who cost him his majority — and who endangered his life and the rest of Congress.

According to a late Tuesday night report from Axios, McConnell is now a better than even bet to convict Donald Trump in a Senate trial if the House impeaches the president on Wednesday, which it almost assuredly will. This latest news comes after a bombshell report from the New York Times earlier on Tuesday that the Senate Majority Leader was “pleased” the House Democrats are pushing for impeachment and did not plan to use procedural delays or whip against a conviction vote.

McConnell’s refusal to defend Trump, per Axios, “would represent one of the most shocking and damning votes in the history of American politics, by the most powerful Republican in Congress.”

One GOP source characterized the groundswell of support for removing Trump as “Senate institutional loyalists are fomenting a counterrevolution” to the president. With McConnell on board for conviction, a large swath of moderate to middle-of-the-road conservative GOP Senators could likewise vote to oust Trump without fear of reprisal within their caucus. Whether or not their party’s base, which still overwhelmingly backs Trump, would agree or would punish them remains to be seen.

This stunning development comes just hours after the House’s third-ranking Republican, Rep. Liz Cheney (WY), issued a blistering statement against Trump’s conduct in inciting the Capitol insurrection last week, in which she said she would be voting in favor of impeachment.

Of note: not long after the Times came out, Sean Hannity dismissed it as “salacious nonsense” on his Fox News show, only to have his prime-time colleague Laura Ingraham essentially confirm McConnell’s disgust with Trump minutes later, followed by the Axios report as well.