U.S. Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on Tuesday voted against former President Donald J. Trump being the subject of a court of impeachment for alleged acts that occurred while he was president.
The procedural vote came on the first day of Trump’s second impeachment trial, after he was impeached by the House while he was still president last month for “incitement of insurrection.”
The question asked on Tuesday was whether a former president should be tried and convicted by the Senate after his or her term of office.
The vote largely fell on party lines, 56-44, although six Republicans broke ranks.
Shelby and Tuberville had already signaled their opposition to trying a former president in a similar procedural vote in recent weeks.
Tuberville commented on the impeachment trial in a radio interview earlier in the day.
Today’s impeachment trial sets a dangerous precedent for impeaching a private citizen.
Instead of focusing on this partisan exercise, we need to be helping the American people and concentrating on getting folks back to work in wake of the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/8ZKrKMrpq5
— Senator Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) February 9, 2021
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
