Senate GOP torn over convicting Trump: 'There's no love lost' - CNN

But getting McConnell and at least 16 other Republicans to convict Trump after he's left office is another question entirely.

"There is no love lost within the Senate Republican Conference for Trump," said one GOP source familiar with internal discussions.

But there is a really open question about how many people will vote to convict him after his term will have expired."

Several senior GOP sources told CNN on Thursday that many Republicans are torn over whether Trump's actions warrant the unprecedented step of prohibiting him from ever serving in office again after he leaves the White House next week.

Republicans say it will ultimately be up to a combination of factors -- the case built by House impeachment managers, whether new information comes out about Trump and the deadly Capitol riot and whether emotions are still raw when it comes time to vote -- to determine whether Republicans will break ranks and end Trump's political career for good.

Privately, Republicans have reviewed internal polling showing Trump's support cratering among GOP voters since Election Day -- especially since last week when he incited a violent mob of his supporters to riot in the Capitol leading to the deaths of five people, two sources said.

Among the questions they're trying to resolve: Whether to bring in outside witnesses, including Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whose interaction with Trump was cited in the impeachment article after the President pressured the Republican election official to "find" the votes necessary to overturn Joe Biden's victory in the state.

"We'll get you answers as we get some answers," Raskin said Wednesday night when asked if he would seek witnesses in the impeachment trial as he walked into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's suite.

Walter Jones, a spokesman for the Georgia secretary of state, wouldn't say Thursday if Raffensperger or another top election official, Gabriel Sterling, would be willing to testify at the trial.

"Our team is fully focused on the current session of the Georgia General Assembly at the moment," Jones told CNN.

Raskin, a constitutional scholar, is expected to argue that there is ample precedent for the Senate to convict a federal official after leaving office -- a case central to convincing some fence-sitting GOP senators since Trump's defense team is expected to argue such an action is unconstitutional.

"Whether or not the Senate has the constitutional authority to hold an impeachment trial for a President that is no longer in office is debatable," said Sen.

"Should the Senate conduct a trial, I will again fulfill my responsibility to consider arguments from both the House managers and President Trump's lawyers."

There's never been an impeachment trial for a former president, and Trump's allies have argued the Senate doesn't have the constitutional authority to hold a trial for the President once he's left office.

Still, Republicans, including McConnell, may ultimately be swayed by the arguments and could point to Trump's status as a former president as a reason not to vote to convict him.

In a memo obtained by CNN laying out the timeline for impeachment, McConnell did not question whether the trial should happen.

But he did raise a question that doesn't yet have a clear answer: Whether Chief Justice John Roberts would preside like he did for Trump's first impeachment trial.

"When a sitting President is tried by the Senate, the Constitution requires that the Chief Justice preside over the trial.