前参议员杰夫·弗莱克（Jeff Flake）在星期六修改共和党顾问迈克·墨菲（Mike Murphy）的评论时引起了轩然大波，共和党参议员迈克·墨菲（Mike Murphy）的评论是，如果共和党30名参议员可以保密，他们将投票弹vote唐纳德·特朗普总统。前亚利桑那州参议员说： “那是不对的。” “至少会有35名。”
在今年早些时候从参议院退休之前，弗莱克是共和党参议员中规模不大但举世瞩目的一群人，他们在大选后仍然反对特朗普。
自众议院周二正式启动弹imp调查以来，虽然参议院的53名共和党大多数议员都坚持了白宫的谈话要点，但一些人仍未放弃拖延党的“猎巫”路线，而其他人此前曾表示反对白宫。总统可能会再次咬他。
弗莱克（Flake）将愿意暗中反对特朗普的共和党人数量定为35岁，远高于必须公开谴责他才能达到67位参议员三分之二多数的20位，前提是所有45名参议院民主党人和两名独立参议员也都投票赞成劾。这里有12种可能性。
最明显的队伍是现任共和党参议员，他们在2016年公开承认对反对派候选人进行投票。参议员包括苏珊·柯林斯（R-ME），科里·加德纳（R-CO），迈克·李（R-UT），丽莎·默科夫斯基（Risa） -AK），Dan Sullivan（R-AK），Rob Portman（R-OH）和Ben Sasse（R-NE）可能会进行弹seven七票。
参议员林赛·格雷厄姆（R-SC）提出了一个明显的例外。在失去共和党提名后，他于2016年对特朗普投了反对票，而当时的候选人特朗普在一次集会上以美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）在2018年说出的“嘲笑南卡罗来纳州参议员”的名义给出了格雷厄姆的电话号码。选举。两人周六一起打高尔夫球，格雷厄姆在总统的辩护中发推文。
根据《华盛顿邮报》的报道，马可·鲁比奥（R-FL）称特朗普为2016年初选中的竞争对手的“骗子”，但与格雷厄姆类似，特朗普当选为特朗普的“粉丝” 。众议院议长南希·佩洛西（Nancy Pelosi）宣布调查后，卢比奥（Rubio）在发布圣经报价单要求“有麻烦时得救”后，在推特上之以鼻。
卢比奥（Rubio）停止谴责这一询问。他还批评了总统的推文，敦促四名有色人种的国会议员“回到六月他们所处的完全破碎的地方”，并告诉《迈阿密先驱报》总统的身份政治“损害了国家”。
与卢比奥类似，参议员蒂姆·斯科特（R-SC）在7月份表示了反对总统的意愿，大声疾呼反对南卡罗莱纳州的格雷厄姆，以讽刺特朗普的巴尔的摩言论“种族冒犯”，并警告总统“无论我们的政治分歧如何，追求最低的公分母只会使我们的国家进一步分裂。” 但是，斯科特可能会退缩，因为他告诉美国有线电视新闻网，举报人的投诉是基于“传闻”。
Roy Blunt（R-MO）向CNN表示了类似的观点，“我们致力于在得出结论之前收集信息。其他没有责任的人可以立即得出结论。” 他补充说：“就我而言，我还没有得出任何结论，仍然愿意收集更多信息。”
政治上的任命人玛莎·麦克萨利（R-AZ）占据了特朗普反对党人约翰·麦凯恩（John McCain）腾出的参议院席位，在周二的政治采访中回避了对特朗普行为的质疑，他说：“选民可以在明年决定对特朗普做出决定”根据AZ Central。尽管这句话似乎支持连任，但麦克萨利就职和她的逃避背后的政治遗产可能预示着另外的信号。
麦凯恩（McCain）2012年的对手，参议员米姆·罗姆尼（R-UT）自2016年3月在竞选总统特朗普时首次对候选人特朗普提出反对以来，一直坚定地怀疑总统，他在讲话中警告他的政党： ，安全和繁荣未来的前景就大大减少了。” 罗姆尼表示，弹imp调查中心的电话给他“深感困扰”。
也许片状自己总结了共和党的情况党面临着最好在今年早些时候他的告别演说。他说：“我相信我们所有人都知道这不是正常的时刻，这是内部和外部对我们民主的威胁都是真实的，我们谁也不能自信地说我们现在的处境如何会变成事实。”
WHICH GOP SENATORS WOULD VOTE TO IMPEACH TRUMP? JEFF FLAKE SAYS THERE ARE 35
Former Senator Jeff Flake caused a stir Saturday when he amended Republican consultant Mike Murphy's comment that 30 GOP senators would vote to impeach President Donald Trump if they could keep their votes secret. "That's not true," the former Arizona senator said. "There would be at least 35."
Until his retirement from the Senate earlier this year, Flake was among the small but notable cohort of Republican senators who remained vocal in their opposition to Trump after the election.
While most of the Senate's 53 Republican members have stuck to the White House's talking points since the House of Representatives officially launched its impeachment inquiry Tuesday, some have stopped short of towing the party's "witch hunt" line, while others have previously voiced opposition to the president that may come back to bite him.
Flake puts the number of Republicans willing to secretly oppose Trump at 35, well above the 20 who would have to publicly denounce him in order to reach the two-thirds supermajority of 67 senators, assuming all 45 Senate Democrats and both independent senators also voted to impeach. Here are 12 possibilities.
The most obvious contingent are the sitting Republican senators who publicly acknowledged voting for opposition candidates in 2016. These include Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Mike Lee (R-UT), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Ben Sasse (R-NE) for a likely seven votes to impeach.
Senator Lindsey Graham, (R-SC) poses a notable exception. He voted against Trump in 2016 after losing the Republican nomination, and the two feuded after then-candidate Trump gave out Graham's phone number at a rally "to mock the South Carolina senator" as CNN put it in 2018. But Graham quickly came around after the election. The two golfed together Saturday, with Graham tweeting in the president's defense.
Marco Rubio (R-FL) called Trump a "con artist" as competitor in the 2016 primary race, but similarly to Graham, transformed into Trump's "fan-boy," according to The Washington Post, after the election. Rubio garnered scorn on Twitter after posting a Bible quote asking for "salvation in time of trouble" following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's announcement of the inquiry.
Rubio has stopped short of denouncing the inquiry outright. He also criticized the president's tweet urging four congresswomen of color to "go back to to the totally broken places they came from" in June, telling the Miami Herald that the president's identity politics "damages the country."
Similarly to Rubio, Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) demonstrated a will to oppose the president in July, vocally countering fellow South Carolinian Graham to dub Trump's Baltimore comments "racially offensive," and warning the president that "no matter our political disagreements, aiming for the lowest common denominator will only divide our nation further." Scott might have fallen back in line, however, as he told CNN the whistleblower complaint was based on "hearsay."
Roy Blunt (R-MO) made a similar point, telling CNN, "We're committed to gather the information before we reach conclusions. Other people who don't have this responsibility can reach conclusions right away." He added, "In my case I'm not ready to make any conclusions yet and still ready to gather more information."
Martha McSally (R-AZ), a political appointee who occupies the Senate seat vacated by vocal Trump opponent John McCain, side-stepped questions about Trump's conduct Tuesday in a Politico interview, saying that "voters can make up their minds on Trump next year" according to AZ Central. While the quote seems to support re-election, the political legacy behind McSally's seat and her evasion may signal otherwise.
McCain's 2012 opponent, Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), has remained stalwartly dubious of the president since first coming out against candidate Trump in March 2016 during a speech in which he warned his party, "If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished." Romney has said he was "deeply troubled" by the phone call at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.
Perhaps Flake himself summed up the situation the Republican Party faces best in his farewell address earlier this year. "I believe that we all know well that this is not a normal time," he said, "that the threats to our democracy from within and without are real, and none of us can say with confidence how the situation that we now find ourselves in will turn out."
