Kentucky Republican committee rejects resolution urging McConnell to condemn Trump impeachment

The Republican Party of Kentucky’s State Central Committee voted on Saturday to reject a resolution that called for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to condemn the second impeachment trial of former President Trump. 

The committee, with more than 350 members, deliberated the resolution and eventually voted against it in a 134-49 vote, a committee member told the Louisville Courier Journal. The meeting was called by more than 30 GOP county chairs and vice chairs. 

“As a political party, we’re in a unique position to bring all sides of our organization together to have conversations about the direction we are going in and what we expect from our elected officials,” a statement released after the meeting said. 

McConnell defended the former president during his first impeachment hearing, when the House brought two articles of impeachment against him for his dealings with Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky.  

Trump was impeached for a historic second time this month in the House for “incitement of insurrection” after he encouraged a crowd of his supporters to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Following his remarks, a group of rioters breached Capitol security, breaking windows, vandalizing lawmakers’ offices and forcing both chambers of Congress to evacuate their respective floors to undisclosed locations. Five people were left dead after the riot, including a Capitol Police officer who had served on the force for 12 years. 

The Senate will begin the hearing on impeachment on Feb. 9.

However, McConnell has not announced how he will vote during the impeachment trial and has stated that he’ll “listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate.”

McConnell condemned Trump’s actions in a Senate speech and said the mob was “provoked by the president.”

The Nelson County GOP’s executive committee censured McConnell for the statement. 

Many Republican senators have not said how they plan to vote for impeachment. There would need to be 17 Republican votes for Trump to be convicted. 

“In the end it is our intention to return our focus to bringing civility to the party and continue having larger conversations about how we can attract more voters and grow our party,” the State Central Committee said in its statement. 

The Hill has reached out to the Kentucky GOP and McConnell for comment.