参议员比尔·卡西迪。周日上午，他跨越党派界限，与其他六名共和党人一起投票给前总统唐纳德·特朗普定罪。他在美国广播公司新闻节目《本周》上说，他支持对1月6日事件进行全面调查，因为其他出现在节目中的议员呼吁成立一个9/11式的委员会来调查国会山袭击事件。
“我认为应该对1月6日发生的事情进行彻底的调查。卡西迪告诉美国广播公司新闻首席主播乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯，他认为特朗普的行为符合叛乱的定义。
卡西迪为自己给特朗普定罪的投票进行辩护，告诉斯特凡诺普洛斯，他认为特朗普显然有“动机”
“我非常仔细地听取了所有的论点。但如果你像我一样把暴动描述为试图阻止权力的和平转移，我们可以看到总统在选举后的两个月里，宣传选举被偷了，”卡西迪补充说。“很明显，他希望立法者受到恐吓。甚至在他知道有暴力发生后，他继续基本上批准暴徒在那里，直到后来他才真正要求他离开。所有这些都指向动机和方法。这是错误的，他应该承担责任。”
在卡西迪·豪斯之后的采访中弹劾副总经理马德琳·迪恩。，和参议员克里斯·库恩斯，德尔。他告诉斯特凡诺普洛斯，他们将支持建立一个9/11式的独立委员会来调查对国会大厦的袭击。
“考虑一下，”迪恩对斯特凡诺普洛斯说。“多年来，我们第一次有了由美国总统煽动的叛乱。...众议院被亵渎，国会大厦被亵渎。人们受到恐吓。这是美国总统煽动的。当然，必须有一个完整的委员会和公正的委员会，不是由政治来指导，而是由像卡西迪博士这样敢于坚持自己信念的人来领导。”
卡西迪本周早些时候暗示，他可能会在周二的投票中改变他对审判合宪性的立场，从而投票给前总统定罪，只有少数共和党人也投票认为应该继续进行。就在卡西迪投票给特朗普定罪几小时后，路易斯安那州共和党投票谴责他，但卡西迪向路易斯安那州的选民捍卫了他的立场，告诉斯特凡诺普洛斯，他宣誓维护宪法。
“人们想要信任。他们想信任他们的领导，他们想让人们负起责任。现在，我们坚持——我正试图让特朗普总统负责——这是我从选举我的人那里得到的信任，我非常有信心，久而久之人民将走向那个位置。”
斯特凡诺普洛斯就特朗普在共和党内的未来向卡西迪施压。
“你认为他能再次竞选总统吗？他会继续成为共和党的一股力量吗？这对共和党意味着什么？”斯特凡诺普洛斯问道。
“我认为他的力量减弱了，共和党不仅仅是一个人。共和党关乎理念，”卡西迪说。
弹劾经理之一迪恩告诉斯特凡诺普洛斯，她相信像卡西迪这样投票给前总统定罪的共和党人。
她告诉斯特凡诺普洛斯:“我要感谢与我们站在一起的七位共和党人，他们遵循事实，审视法律，审视证据，认定这位总统犯有重罪和轻罪。”“听到57个内疚的声音是很有力量的。然后听到和看到米奇·麦康奈尔站着说“无罪”，令人费解，几分钟后又站起来说他对一切都有罪。历史会记住他的那句“言出必行”的话。”
斯特凡诺普洛斯质疑迪恩，为什么众议院弹劾经理在获得足够的票数在周六上午的投票中考虑之后，放弃了传唤证人的计划。弹劾负责人、众议员杰米·拉斯金(Jamie Raskin)表示，检方希望传唤共和党众议员海梅·埃雷拉·比尤特勒(Jaime Herrera Beutler)，她说，她与众议院少数党领袖凯文·麦卡锡就特朗普涉嫌拒绝阻止暴徒一事进行了交谈。
“一些民主党人说你屈服了，”斯特凡诺普洛斯说。
但迪恩和库恩斯在各自的采访中表示，他们不认为传唤证人作证会改变投票结果。
“我们不需要更多的证人。我们在一个充满证人和受害者的房间里，我们不需要更多的证人。但我们能够确保的是，前总统的律师规定，她所说的是真的，这是一个总统煽动的严重犯罪和叛乱的进一步见证，”迪恩说。
斯特凡诺普洛斯也在这一点上挑战库恩斯，问他是否认为这会有所不同。
“所以你不认为一个全面的审判，更多的证人，更多的文件让我们了解白宫内部发生的事情，会更有利于正义和问责的事业？”斯特凡诺普洛斯按下。
库恩斯说，他对民主党设法获得的57票印象深刻，这是该国历史上最大的两党弹劾，他认为他们不会获得这个数字。
“他们本可以多500名证人，但这不会改变结果。一旦米奇·麦康奈尔明确表示，即使有令人信服的证据，他也打算无罪释放，众议院经理需要的不是更多的证人或更多的证据，我们都需要更多的共和党勇气，”库恩斯说。“坦率地说，我当时并不认为花几个月的时间争取更多的证人会改变这次审判的结果。”
这位特拉华州参议员还相信，如果他们进行无记名投票，将会有17张共和党选票来定罪这位前总统。
“我相当肯定会有一个秘密投票来定罪，”库恩斯说。“坦率地说，我认为大多数共和党人都在一个不太令人信服的宪法论点上犹豫不决，我们需要找到一种方法来实现这一责任。最终还是掌握在美国人民手中。但我确实认为共和党现在分歧很大，我感谢七名共和党参议员和10名共和党众议院议员支持宪法，反对特朗普总统。”
库恩斯说，他认为未来可能有理由对特朗普提起额外的诉讼。他补充说，这不应该是优先事项。
“我认为有理由对前总统特朗普进行进一步的民事和刑事诉讼，”库恩斯说。“但是乔治，我也在集中精力向前推进，提供紧急的流行病救援，振兴和加强我们的经济，这是拜登总统自就任总统以来一直关注的问题。...我认为这一阶段的责任现在转移到了法院，我们国会需要继续推进扩大失业检查，刺激检查对我们经济的再投资，这是美国人民迫切需要和应该得到的。”
斯特凡诺普洛斯向库恩斯介绍了拜登入主白宫以来两党合作的情况，因为民主党正在为以简单多数票通过冠状病毒救助奠定基础。
库恩斯说:“乔治，让我们明确一点，拜登总统已经会见了两党参议员小组，并与他们进行了交谈。有10名共和党参议员仍在与白宫和一些民主党人进行谈判，试图为一项适当大胆和广泛的救助计划找到两党合作的道路。”
“但我们在众议院和参议院，民主党人提供了一条途径，这样，如果一个月后，由于1000万美国人的失业检查即将停止，我们就可以着手一项只针对民主党人的法案，”他继续说。“拜登总统正在团结美国人民。他在得到四分之三美国人民支持的救援行动中前进。从他在就职典礼上的讲话方式到他在头几周采取的行动，他向我们展示了真正的总统领导与他的前任形成鲜明对比的样子。他坚持团结，我相信他正在为美国人民带来团结。”
9/11-style commission should investigate Capitol attack: Sen. Coons, Rep. Dean
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who crossed party lines and voted alongside six other Republicans to convict former President Donald Trump, said Sunday morning on ABC News' "This Week" that he supports a full investigation into the events of Jan. 6, as other lawmakers who appeared on the show called for a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Capitol attack.
"I think there should be a complete investigation about what happened on Jan. 6. Why was there not more law enforcement, National Guard already mobilized, what was known, who knew it, and when they knew it, all that, because that builds the basis so this never happens again in the future," Cassidy, who said he believes Trump's actions fit the definition of an insurrection, told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Cassidy defended his vote to convict Trump, telling Stephanopoulos he believed it was clear Trump had a "motive."
"I listened very carefully to all the arguments. But if you describe insurrection as I did, as an attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, we can see the president for two months after the election, promoting that the election was stolen," Cassidy added. "It was clear that he wished that lawmakers be intimidated. And even after he knew there was violence taking place, he continued to basically sanction the mob being there, and not until later that he actually asked him to leave. All of that points to a motive, and a method. And that is wrong, he should be held accountable."
In interviews following Cassidy, House impeachment manager Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told Stephanopoulos they would support the creation of a 9/11-style independent commission to investigate the attack on the Capitol.
“Think about it,” Dean said to Stephanopoulos. “For the first time in however many years, we had an insurrection incited by the president of the United States. ... The House was desecrated, the Capitol was desecrated. People were terrorized. This was incited by the president of the United States. Of course, there must be a full commission and impartial commission, not guided by politics, but filled with people who would stand up to the courage of their conviction, like Dr. Cassidy.”
Cassidy signaled early in the week he might vote to convict the former president by flipping his stance on the trial's constitutionality in a vote on Tuesday, joining only a handful of Republicans who also voted it should proceed. The Louisiana GOP voted to censure Cassidy just hours after he voted to convict Trump, but Cassidy defended his stance to his constituents in Louisiana, telling Stephanopoulos he took an oath to uphold the Constitution.
"People want to trust. They want to trust their leaders, they want people to be held accountable. Now, we are holding -- I'm attempting to hold President Trump accountable -- and that is the trust I have from the people that elected me, and I am very confident that as time passes, people will move to that position."
Stephanopoulos pressed Cassidy on Trump's future within the Republican Party.
"Do you think he can run a credible campaign for president again? Will he remain a force in the Republican Party? What does that mean for the Republican Party?" Stephanopoulos asked.
"I think his force wanes, the Republican Party is more than just one person. The Republican Party is about ideas," Cassidy said.
Dean, one of the impeachment managers, told Stephanopoulos she credits the Republicans like Cassidy who voted to convict the former president.
“I give credit to the seven Republicans who stood with us, who followed the facts, who looked at the law and looked at the evidence and found this president guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors,” she told Stephanopoulos. “It was powerful to hear the 57 guiltys. And then it was puzzling to hear and see Mitch McConnell stand and say ‘not guilty,’ and then minutes later stand again and say he was guilty of everything. History will remember that statement of speaking out of two sides of his mouth.”
Stephanopoulos challenged Dean on why House impeachment managers abandoned their plan to call witnesses after securing enough votes to consider it during a Saturday morning vote. Rep. Jamie Raskin, the lead impeachment manager, said the prosecution wanted to subpoena Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler regarding a talk she said she had with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy about Trump allegedly refusing to stop the rioters.
"Some Democrats say you caved," Stephanopoulos said.
But both Dean and Coons said in their respective interviews that they do not believe calling witnesses to testify would have changed the outcome of the vote.
"We didn't need more witnesses. We were in a room full of witnesses and victims, we needed no more witnesses. But what we were able to secure was a stipulation by the former president's lawyers that what she had said was true, it was entered into the record further witness of the high crime and insurrection incited by a president," Dean said.
Stephanopoulos also challenged Coons on that point, asking if he thought it would have made a difference.
"So you don't believe that a full trial, more witnesses, more documents giving us a sense of what was going on in the inside the White House, would have better served the cause of justice and accountability?" Stephanopoulos pressed.
Coons said he was impressed with the 57 votes that Democrats managed to get, the most bipartisan impeachment in the history of the country and a number he didn't think they would achieve.
"They could have had 500 more witnesses, it wasn't going to change the outcome. Once Mitch McConnell made it clear he intended to acquit even despite the compelling evidence, what the House managers needed wasn't more witnesses or more evidence, what we all needed was more Republican courage," Coons said. "I, frankly, at that time did not think that spending months fighting over additional witnesses would have changed the outcome of this trial one bit."
The Delaware senator was also confident there would have been the 17 Republican votes needed to convict the former president if they had cast secret ballots.
"I'm fairly certain there would have been a vote to convict with a secret ballot," Coons said. "I frankly think there were a majority of Republicans hanging their hat on a not-very-compelling constitutional argument, and we need to find a way that we can deliver that accountability. Ultimately it's in the hands of the American people. But I do think the Republican Party is deeply divided right now, and I'm grateful for the seven Republican senators and 10 Republican House members who stood up for the Constitution and stood up to President Trump."
Coons said he thinks there could be grounds for additional proceedings against Trump in the futurebut added it shouldn't be a priority.
"I think there's grounds for further proceedings, both civil and criminal against former President Trump," Coons said. "But George, I'm also focused on moving forward with delivering the urgent pandemic relief, the revitalization and strengthening of our economy that President Biden has been focused on since becoming president. ... I think that phase of accountability moves to the courts now, and we in Congress need to move forward with delivering the expanded unemployment checks the stimulus checks the reinvestment in our economy that the American people, so desperately need and deserve."
Stephanopoulos pushed Coons on how bipartisan the beginning of Biden's time in the White House has been, given that Democrats are laying the groundwork to proceed with a simple majority vote to potentially pass coronavirus relief.
"George, let's be clear, President Biden has met and spoken with bipartisan group of senators, there are 10 Republican senators who are still negotiating with the White House, with a group of Democrats, about trying to find a bipartisan path for an appropriately bold and broad relief package," Coons said.
"But we in the House and Senate, Democrats have provided a pathway so that if a month from now, as unemployment checks are at the verge of stopping for 10 million Americans, we can proceed with a Democrat-only bill," he continued. "President Biden is uniting the American people. He is moving forward on relief that has the support of three-quarters of the American people. And from the way he spoke at his inauguration to the actions he's taken in his first couple of weeks, he is showing us what real presidential leadership looks like in sharp contrast to his predecessor. He ran on unity, and I believe he's delivering unity for the American people."
