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Manu Raju

@mkraju

11 Feb

GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who was elected to his Senate seat in part because of Trump's strong support in his Alabama bid, told me this when asked if he’d support Trump in four years if he ran again. "I'm not going to do that. We won't go that far. A little hypothetical there."

Tuberville also declined to say if Rudy Giuliani and Trump made a mistake by trying to call him after the Jan. 6 riot to get him to object to more states' results.

"I'm not answering that one," he told me.

Tuberville did vote to throw out the PA and AZ electoral results -- but said he had no regrets.

"I learned a lot of the time, you made a lot of bad calls or good calls in football -- you don't look back. You make it at that time, and you own it. Same thing I'll do with this one”

Read 4 tweets

Manu Raju

@mkraju

10 Feb

Several GOP senators make clear they view the footage as chilling and are shaken by what they saw - but are singaling they won’t change their plans to vote to acquit

“Same way that I was before,” Sen. Mike Braun told me when asked if he was shaken.

Braun added: “When you think the process is flawed in the first place,” it’s hard to vote to convict.

“Who wouldn’t be” shaken? said Sen. Ron Johnson. But he added that he blames the rioters - not Trump.

Sen. John Cornyn, usually very talkative, told me: “I’ve got nothing for you now.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is likely to convict, said “that the evidence that was presented thus far is pretty damning.”

Read 4 tweets

Manu Raju

@mkraju

10 Feb

Sen. Josh Hawley insisted to me he was paying attention when sitting in the upstairs gallery and while reading a stack of documents from his manilla folder. He said he was reading legal briefs in the case. He's the lone senator sitting in the upstairs gallery.

“Well I've got the trial briefs with me, and taking notes. I'm sitting up there A, because it's a little less claustrophobic than on the floor, but B, I've also got a straight shot. Where I sit in the Senate chamber, as you know, I'm kind of in the corner,” he said

Hawley added: “I can basically see the back of their heads. But I sort of picked a spot where I can look right down on them, I can see the TV, and it's interesting."

Read 4 tweets

Manu Raju

@mkraju

9 Feb

I asked Marco Rubio if he believes Trump was responsible for riot: "I hold responsible the people who did it. Now do I believe that the things leading up to it that was foreseeable...

“... that you invite that all these people to the city, some element of that, ginned up appropriately could lead to something bad? I don't know if anyone could have told you that's the way it played out, but you certainly worry about it.

“I wish there had been more awareness of that. Words do have consequences. I'm not sure if it rises to the level of a crime, and if it does, and people believe it does, then let a U.S. attorney go to a grand jury and get an indictment and let someone sue,” Rubio said

Read 4 tweets

Manu Raju

@mkraju

9 Feb

Lots of criticism from Republicans over Trump attorney Castor. John Cornyn:“And then I thought the President's lawyer the first lawyer just rambled on and on and on and didn't really address the constitutional argument. That was it was not one of the finest I've seen.”

@karoun

“I don't think the lawyers did the most effective job," said Sen. Ted Cruz to @karoun when asked about Trump's lawyers. He added that Rep. Jamie Raskin was "impressive" and a "serious lawyer."

Bill Cassidy: “Anyone who listened to President Trump's legal team saw they were unfocused, they attempted to avoid the issue. And they talked about everything but the issue at hand."

Read 5 tweets