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Senator Toomey told KDKA his vote to condemn Trump for his role on Jan. 6 “was not a close call.”
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“I have absolutely no doubt that … Trump intended to thwart the outcome of the election,” he said.
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Toomey resigns after 12 years in the Senate and is succeeded by John Fetterman.
Retired GOP Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said in a recent interview that his vote to convict former President Donald Trump of “insurgency insurgency” for his role on Jan. 6, 2021 was “not a close call,” like lawmakers stated that he believed the Commander-in-Chief “intended to thwart the outcome of the election”.
Speaking to political editor Jon Delano of KDKA, the Pittsburgh-area affiliate of CBS, Toomey noted that he thinks Trump’s narrow loss to incumbent President Joe Biden in Pennsylvania in the 2020 election played a crucial role in his approach played, the results to tumble.
“On Jan. 6, he didn’t want to step in and call off the mob because he wanted to delay the process of getting the election confirmed because he thought at the time he was pretty close to convincing the Pennsylvania legislature and several other states to.” to pass legislation that would create a new list of voters who would vote for him,” Toomey said.
The conservative lawmaker, who served in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005 before winning Senate nominations in 2010 and 2016, was one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial in February 2021. (Trump was eventually acquitted as the 57-43 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority required for a conviction.)
“It wasn’t a close call for me,” Toomey said of the vote. “I have absolutely no doubt that President Trump intended to thwart the outcome of the election.”
When Toomey was asked if he regretted the vote, lawmakers stood by their stance.
“That is a egregious breach of the Constitution, I would imagine – to knowingly frustrate the outcome of an election so you can remain in power. And I think that’s what happened there,” he said.
“I felt like I had no choice,” he continued. “If that isn’t an indictment, then I have a hard time contemplating what it is.”
But when asked whether Trump should be prosecuted for his role, Toomey said he saw the picture as unclear.
“I just don’t know enough about the facts and circumstances,” he said. “We’ve seen special counsel run amok before, so I’m not thrilled with that,” he added, alluding to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s decision to appoint a special counsel to handle all criminal investigations into the former president.
Toomey, who has decided not to seek re-election this fall, will be replaced in January by Democratic Senator-elect John Fetterman.
Read the original article on Business Insider