Axios Sneak Peek — 🚨 Scoop: McConnell leans toward convicting

1 big thing ... 🚨 Scoop: McConnell leans toward convicting | Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Open in app View in browser   Axios Sneak Peek By Alayna Treene, Hans Nichols and Kadia Goba ·Jan 12, 2021 Welcome to Sneak Peek, anchored by Alayna Treene, Hans Nichols and Kadia Goba. ⚡ Situational awareness: Senate Republicans are planning three confirmation hearings before President-elect Biden's inauguration — for Janet Yellen, Lloyd Austin and Alejandro Mayorkas, the Wall Street Journal reports (subscription). Today's newsletter — edited by Glen Johnson — is 865 words, a 3.5-minute read.     1 big thing ... 🚨 Scoop: McConnell leans toward convicting President Trump signs a plaque on the border wall in Alamo, Texas, today. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images   There's a better than 50-50 chance that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would vote to convict President Trump in an impeachment trial, sources tell Axios' Mike Allen. "The Senate institutional loyalists are fomenting a counterrevolution" to Trump, said a top Republican close to McConnell. Why it matters: This would represent one of the most shocking and damning votes in the history of American politics, by the most powerful Republican in Congress. McConnell's vote would open the door to the possibility that Trump could be convicted and prohibited from running for president again. An anti-Trump infection is spreading among Hill Republicans. House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming — the third-ranking House GOP leader, and a top establishment voice — announced that she will vote to impeach Trump. Cheney said of the Capitol mob: "There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution." The New York Times reported that McConnell "has told associates that he believes President Trump committed impeachable offenses and that he is pleased that Democrats are moving to impeach him." Mike is told McConnell sees this fight as his legacy — defending the Senate and the institution against the verbal attack of the president and the literal attack of his followers.     2. Scoop: House freshmen at war Rep. Nancy Mace attends freshmen orientation in November. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images   The freshman class of House Republicans has been fighting since the Capitol assault, creating a clear split just over a week after being sworn in, Axios' Alayna Treene has learned. What we're hearing: Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) got in a spat on a text chain today with all freshmen GOP members, according to sources who've read the text messages. The conversation started when Greene — a fierce defender of Trump and former QAnon backer — sent a National Pulse article to the chain claiming the president's approval numbers had increased during December. Mace, who came out early against Republicans who planned to reject the election results, fired back: "I'm disgusted by what you and other Q-conspiracy theorists did last week in the chamber after all of the violence." Go deeper. Breaking: House Republicans complained about — or bypassed — new metal detectors outside their chamber Tuesday night. Minority Whip Steve Scalise, who was shot in 2017 while practicing for a congressional softball game, said the detectors were meant to "impede" members from voting, according to pool reports. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado freshman who is a gun-owning, Second Amendment advocate, walked through after setting off a detector and refused to let U.S. Capitol Police search her handbag. She was admitted after a standoff.     3. Scoop: Rubio asks Biden for $2K checks Sen. Marco Rubio. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images   Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) urged Biden tonight to immediately call on Congress to pass $2,000 stimulus checks for the American people as a sign of congressional unity, according to a letter obtained by Alayna. Why it matters: Rubio has supported such payments before, but in asking the incoming president to "break the paralysis in Washington by delivering desperately needed relief," the potential 2024 presidential candidate is presenting himself as a practical partisan. Biden already supports the payments. Rubio and other Republicans are now trying to find ways to smooth over the political damage after Trump helped incite an assault on the Capitol. "Although I will disagree with your administration frequently over the next four years, I am committed to working in good faith to advance critically important and effective policies on behalf of the people of this great nation," the senator wrote. Go deeper.     4. Republicans' post-Trump stylings Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   Top Republicans are charting divergent paths in a post-Trump, post-siege GOP, trying to distinguish themselves in a fractious party with an evolving brand, Alayna writes. Josh Hawley: Young and newer to Congress. Clinging to Trumpism and populism, despite the president's toxicity. Waging war against Big Tech and political bias on social media platforms. Liz Cheney: Wants a return to normal. Mainstream conservative born from the Bush years. She's advocating for small government and a strong defense system. Ben Sasse: The sensible, hip conservative who isn't afraid to buck leadership or anger the Trump base. Writes well. Tom Cotton: Advocate for muscular conservatism and ruling with an iron fist. Deeply conservative and parallels to Trump, minus the president's erratic behavior and nasty rhetoric. Marco Rubio: Believes Republicans need to be the champions of the working class and steer away from the party's traditional embrace of big business. Strong focus on minority voters and anti-socialism. Writing more. Rand Paul: Libertarian and chief deficit hawk. Not afraid to be on an island within his party and hold up a vote he opposes. Or two. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski: Centrist women and survivors not afraid to cross party lines and vote with the Democrats. Key party figures to watch as the Senate walks the tightrope of a razor-thin majority split. Mitt Romney: Old school conservative with a strong moral compass. His warning on Russia and vote on Trump's first impeachment are aging well.     5. GOPers aim to avoid "deplatforming" Photo illustration: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images   Republican digital operatives are worrying about themselves and their clients after major technology companies cracked down on prominent conservative websites and organizations, Axios' Lachlan Markay reports. Why it matters: Amazon's decision to remove the popular conservative social media site Parler from its hosting services, and Twitter's suspensions of Trump and tens of thousands of his supporters, have segments of the online right fearing they will be "deplatformed" themselves. Between the lines: The crackdowns have mainly focused on platforms where conspiracy theories have proliferated since Trump's election loss, and, in some cases, where last week's Capitol violence was fomented, encouraged and celebrated. But the digital strategists on that email list were convinced that they might soon find themselves swept up in an ostensibly imminent wave of online censorship. They view them as arbitrary and politically motivated. Go deeper.     6. Pic du jour Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images   The physical and physiological damage lingers on Capitol Hill.   🐫 Thanks for reading. We hope you have a good hump day. We'll be back tomorrow night to bring you the latest on impeachment.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: