'20 Percent Chance' GOP Senate Will Remove Trump, Fox Source Says

Moderator Chris Wallace of FOX News guides the discussion between Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during the third presidential debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. (Joe Raedle/Pool via AP)

Fox News host Chris Wallace said during an interview with acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney that a “well-connected” Republican source told him there was a 20 percent chance that the Senate would vote to convict the president in a Senate impeachment trial.

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The Hill:

Wallace cited an overwhelming House vote criticizing the president’s policies in Syria and an op-ed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) slamming Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from that country.

He then said he had “talked to a very well-connected Republican in Washington, someone whose name you would know well, who says that if the House votes to impeach and it gets to a trial in the Senate, there’s now a 20 percent chance enough Republicans would vote with Democrats to impeach the president.”

It takes 67 Senators voting to convict the president and kick Trump out of office. There are currently 47 Democrats or independents who vote with the Democrats in the Senate. That means there would have to be 20 Republicans who would need to vote to convict. This “well-connected” GOP source should share where he gets his wacky weed because that’s some psychedelic stuff, man.

“That’s just absurd,” Mulvaney said. “The comment about the 20 percent is just a person who clearly doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”

The acting chief of staff added that Trump knew his decision to withdraw troops from Syria would be controversial and wouldn’t be “politically popular.”

“The president is extraordinarily popular at home,” Mulvaney said, emphasizing his likability in swing states.

When Wallace said he was referring to GOP lawmakers distancing themselves from the president, Mulvaney responded, “They have to go home eventually as well.”

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What does Syria have to do with Ukraine? It’s one thing to try to make a diplomatic quid pro quo an impeachable offense — if one even occurred in Ukraine. But it’s another to convict the president of exercising his prerogatives as commander-in-chief and leaving Syria.

Polls have indicated support for impeachment has grown since Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced an inquiry last month, with multiple polls over the past two weeks showing that a majority of respondents supported the impeachment of Trump.

In truth, there is unease among many Republicans about the Syrian retreat and Ukraine fiasco. But there is no indication that any Republican Senators — including Trump foe Mitt Romney — are willing to commit political suicide and vote for impeachment. If it comes out that Trump held a gun to the head of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and assured him that either his brains or his signature would be on a document ordering an investigation of Biden, there’s a small chance Trump would lose his job.

Otherwise not.

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