Republican Senators Pat Toomey, Richard Burr and Bill Cassidy are punished by GOP for voting to convict Trump
THREE out of seven Republican senators who voted to impeach Donald Trump have now been censured by their state Republican parties.
On Monday, North Carolina Sen Richard Burr was formally censured, which is a public reprimand that lets party activists voice their issues with an elected official.
Of the seven senators who voted to impeach Trump – Burr, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, Maine's Susan Collins, Utah's Mitt Romney, Nebraska's Ben Sasse, Pennsylvania's Pat Toomey and Louisiana's Bill Cassidy – Toomey and Cassidy have also been officially censured.
It is likely that the others may receive official reprimands as well after Congress acquitted the former president.
There have already been calls to censure Romney in Utah, with a petition claiming he "embarrassed the state of Utah" when he voted for impeachment and "misrepresented himself as a Republican" when he ran for office.
The leaders of the state's GOP, however, put out a statement saying that they don't support calls to censure the senator, and believe in a "diversity of thought."
Cassidy was formally censured on Saturday and Toomey followed shortly thereafter.
Both Toomey and Burr have said that they will not run for re-election in 2022.
After voting to impeach Trump, Burr released a lengthy statement on his website, noting that while he was initially opposed to having an impeachment trial for a former president after he left office, he felt he had to do his duty to listen and vote on the facts of the case.
"I have listened to the arguments presented by both sides and considered the facts. The facts are clear," Burr said.
"The President promoted unfounded conspiracy theories to cast doubt on the integrity of a free and fair election because he did not like the results.
"As Congress met to certify the election results, the President directed his supporters to go to the Capitol to disrupt the lawful proceedings required by the Constitution.
"When the crowd became violent, the President used his office to first inflame the situation instead of immediately calling for an end to the assault."
He added that he did not make the decision "lightly," but believed it was "necessary."
Sen Sasse released a video message on Facebook last week discussing the possibility that he will be censured again. He was censured once before for criticizing Trump in 2016.
"As a friend and fellow Republican, I wanna shoot straight: I'm not gonna spend any time trying to talk you out of another censure," Sasse said.
He continued to comment on the "anger" in Nebraska's Republican party.
"Let's be clear: the anger in this state party has never been about me violating principle or abandoning conservative policy.
"I'm one of the most conservative voters in the Senate. The anger's always been simply about me not bending the knee to…one guy.
"But my disagreements with President Trump have never been personal -they've always been about my genuine affection for the Constitutional order, something every American regardless of party should share."
He continued to slam critics and what he referred to as "the weird worship of one dude" as he denounced the January 6 attack on the Capitol building.
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