
Forty-three GOP senators voted against convicting ex-president Donald Trump with incitement of insurrection in the wake of the January 6th attack on the Capitol, during the former president’s second impeachment. Twelve of them said while they believed Mr Trump was wrong, Congress did not have the authority to hold him responsible.
“Undoubtedly, then-President Trump displayed poor leadership in his words and actions. I do not defend those actions and my vote should not be read as a defense of those actions,” Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said in a statement at the time.