(Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Americans and the mainstream media have primarily been focused on the potential for Donald Trump’s impeachment from a singular angle, but a new narrative has begun to emerge to the idea that there are cracks and divisions within the Republican party that are beginning to appear.
Former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake claimed Thursday that “at least 35” GOP senators would privately vote for President Trump’s impeachment if given the opportunity.
“I heard someone say if there were a private vote there would be 30 Republican votes. That’s not true,” said Flake during an appearance at the 2019 Texas Tribune Festival. “There would be at least 35.”
According to Fox News, Flake was reacting to longtime GOP political consultant Mike Murphy, who appeared on MSNBC Wednesday and suggested many Republican lawmakers in the Senate would support impeachment with a “secret ballot.”
“I can tell you this … one Republican senator told me if it was a secret vote, 30 Republican senators would vote to impeach Trump,” Murphy said.
But hearsay is not fact nor reality, and former Sen. Flake has been a long-time critic of President Trump, as well as the Republican Party, since 2016.
Has the GOP had enough Donald Trump? Could there be a mass defection of the Republican party? Not likely, according to Fox News host Leland Vittert.
“I haven’t heard any Republican in the Senate give an indication that they would vote to convict,” Vittert told WIBC host Tony Katz in an interview Friday.
“[But] if there is going to be a defection then it is going to be a mass defection,” continued Vittert, “because no one wants to be on that train alone.”
He continued: “The question is whether or not we’ve learned anything in the last week that would lead Senate Republicans to believe that legal misconduct occurred that rises to the level of impeachment, and thus far, the answer has been ‘no.’”
Click the link below to hear Tony’s full interview with Leland Vittert.
