News / Politics

Republican Senate 'coverup' in impeachment prompts backlash

Sunday, 02 February 2020 5:54 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 02 February 2020 6:05 AM ]

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) gives the thumbs up as he leaves the Senate chamber after adjourning for the night during the impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump at the US Capitol on January 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. (AFP photo)

Outraged grassroots activists plan to punish Republican senators at the ballot box for what they see as a “coverup” in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

Republican senators voted Friday to block witnesses and documents Trump’s trial in flagrant defiance of public opinion, paving the way for his acquittal.

This prompted a progressive group known as the Indivisible Project to announce that it would target nine senators in November’s elections.

The group is planning a massive “payback project” designed to punish Senators, among them majority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Trump loyalist Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Indivisible said, next week, it would call out one of the “nine Payback Project senators for their participating in a coverup by placing a full page newspaper ad in one of their biggest state papers.”

In what seems to be an appeal to activists, the group said, “rage is good for recruiting. Hello. Are you pissed about impeachment too?”

“The Payback Project is launching a new peer-to-peer outreach campaign to engage voters across nine target states to take action with Indivisibles in their area and mobilize locally to flip their Senate seats. No matter if you're brand-new to this or a long-time leader, we're asking you to sign on right now to commit to do the work to win back the Senate this fall -- sign up and we'll send you everything you need to start reaching key voters!” the group said on its website.

On December 18, the Democratic-led House impeached Trump for seeking to coerce a foreign government for his own personal political gain.

That arose from Trump’s request that Ukraine investigate former US Vice President Joe Biden and his son, setting the stage for the Senate trial to determine if he should be removed from office.

Two articles of impeachment – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress – were sent to the Republican-controlled Senate, but it blocked witness testimonies and new evidence on Friday.