State GOP Blasts Republican Who Voted to Convict Trump: 'He Has Fallen Into the Trap Laid by Democrats'
Louisiana Republicans condemned the vote of Louisiana GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, who joined Senate Democrats on Saturday in voting to convict former President Donald Trump of the article of impeachment against him.
Saturday’s Senate vote fell well short of the 67-vote majority needed to convict the former president on the House-passed article of impeachment that accused Trump of inciting insurrection through his words and actions of the day of the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion.
Six other Republicans joined Cassidy in voting to convict Trump in the 57-43 tally: Richard Burr of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Cassidy tweeted a terse comment about his vote.
“Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty,” he tweeted.
Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty. pic.twitter.com/ute0xPc4BH
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) February 13, 2021
But Louisiana Republicans pushed back.
“We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the vote today by Sen. Cassidy to convict former President Trump. Fortunately, clearer heads prevailed and President Trump has been acquitted of the impeachment charge filed against him,” the Louisiana Republican Party tweeted Saturday.
We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the vote today by Sen. Cassidy to convict former President Trump. Fortunately, clearer heads prevailed and President Trump has been acquitted of the impeachment charge filed against him.
— Republican Party of Louisiana (@LAGOP) February 13, 2021
“Senator Bill Cassidy’s vote is extremely disappointing,” Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, a Republican, added. “First, as I have said repeatedly, this impeachment was clearly unconstitutional. Second, he has fallen into the trap laid by Democrats to have Republicans attack Republicans.”
Senator Bill Cassidy’s vote is extremely disappointing. First, as I have said repeatedly, this impeachment was clearly unconstitutional. Second, he has fallen into the trap laid by Democrats to have Republicans attack Republicans. #lalege #lagov
— Jeff Landry (@JeffLandry) February 13, 2021
The state party also announced in a statement that its executive committee had voted unanimously to censure Cassidy.
Cassidy’s vote earlier in the week that the trial was constitutional had also been attacked by the state party, which said in a statement it was “profoundly disappointed” in him.
For that vote, Cassidy was also censured by the Republican Party of East Baton Rouge Parish, which published its censure of Cassidy on its Facebook page.
The resolution posted on Facebook said Trump “has been the subject of outrageous, scurrilous and false attacks throughout his presidency and has been impeached twice by the Democratic House” and that the charges against him were “a sham and a cruel hoax on the American people and attempt to perpetuate and legitimate a lie, purposely ignoring and editing from their ‘evidence’ President Trump’s call for citizens to go to the Capitol to ‘peacefully and patriotically’ to make their voices heard.”
The resolution said that Cassidy’s vote “to allow the impeachment fiasco to continue was a betrayal of the people of Louisiana and a rebuke to those who supported President Trump and him.”
Cassidy “does not represent the people of this state or the Republican Party. He represents himself and has joined with some of the most dishonest and disreputable forces in our country to be part of this despicable sham,” it added.
The resolution further said the “Republican Party of East Baton Rouge Parish hereby takes an action which it has never before taken. The Republican Party of East Baton Rouge Parish hereby censures Senator Bill Cassidy and holds him out as an object of shame.”
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