VIDEO: Trump Would Have Been Convicted On Secret Ballot, Says Impeachment Manager

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By André Johnson

Former President Donald J. Trump would have been convicted in last week’s impeachment trial if senators had been allowed to cast ballots in private, according to one of the House Democrats who prosecuted the case.

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“He could have brought 17 over,” said Plaskett, “but I think he knew that he needed to bring over more than half of his caucus, because without half of his caucus he would not be able to maintain his minority leadership.” That would be 25, plus McConnell himself.

Plaskett told Zenger that McConnell is “obsessed with maintaining his place of power.” He doesn’t like Trump, she said, but saw the former president as “a means to an end.”

Reached on Monday, McConnell communications director David Popp had no comment but referred Zenger to McConnell’s floor speech after the trial concluded — in which he argued the impeachment itself was unconstitutional even though Trump’s behavior was worthy of condemnation.

Plaskett also said Trump had a specific purpose in egging on his supporters on Jan. 6 from the opposite end of Pennsylvania Avenue: “to try and assassinate a vice president, simply to maintain power. I think that’s what people saw. That’s what I hope they saw.” Then-Vice President Mike Pence had said he would not stand in the way of Congress certifying the election of President Joseph R. Biden Jr., enraging Trump.

What followed, she said, was the tail end of Trump’s strategy to hold on to the presidency “by any means necessary,” including by causing Pence’s death. Plaskett said Trump “had run out of nonviolent means” in the weeks following the 2020 election.

“Let’s think about what would have happened if what he [Trump] wanted to do had transpired, right?” said Plaskett. “So what if the vice president had been killed? What if the speaker had been harmed? Would Donald Trump have been able to declare martial law? Would he still be sitting in the White House now? Who knows, right?”

Trump spokesman Jason Miller did not respond to texts and phone messages seeking comment.

Plaskett believed while she was speaking at the Senate rostrum that she was reaching some specific Republican senators, and might sway them. Ultimately none of them voted to convict the former president.