Pennsylvania GOP Rebukes Sen. Pat Toomey After Vote to Convict Trump

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) leaves the Senate chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 30, 2020. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The Pennsylvania Republican Party voted to rebuke Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) for his vote to convict former President Donald Trump.

A rebuke is a political function and does not have any power.

“We are outraged that Senator Toomey took part in an impeachment process that facilitated Democrats’ tireless obsession with partisan political retribution,” read a statement sent by the Pennsylvania Republican Party.

“Democrats used impeachment as a political weapon, which set a dangerous precedent in America, and Senator Toomey did not stand in their way,” their statement added. “We oppose the Senator’s actions in the strongest terms, but we have faith that the voters will properly address public officials who do not satisfactorily represent the best interests of this nation.”

The vote count was 128–124, with 13 abstaining, to approve a statement expressing their displeasure with the senator.

Toomey was censured by the York County GOP last month. The Pennsylvania Republican Party this week stopped short of censuring Toomey, who is slated to retire in 2022.

Toomey was one of seven GOP senators who joined Democrats in voting to convict Trump last month. The former president was acquitted of allegedly inciting an insurrection during the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Toomey’s office for comment. Toomey explained his vote last month by saying that he voted that way because Trump allegedly “urged the mob to march on the Capitol for the explicit purpose of preventing Congress and the Vice President from formally certifying the results,” without providing examples.

Some Republicans in the state said Toomey should have faced harsher punishment.

“There are going to be more [ticked] off Republicans now,” said Mike McMullen, a GOP committeeman from Allegheny County who wanted to censure the senator, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

So far, five of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump have been censured by Republicans in their home states. Similar actions have been taken against House Republicans who voted to impeach.

“[Trump is] the leader of the Republican Party, like it not,” McMullen said. While the online vote was private, McMullen said he would seek a roll call vote and look to 2022 party elections to target committee members who opposed censure. “There’s a group out there, and we’re coming after your ass,” he continued to say.

In his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Sunday, Trump called on conservatives to rebuke GOP lawmakers who are “grandstanders” and voted to impeach or convict him, reading out the names to the crowd. That included Toomey.

The former president argued it needs to be done because Democrats, unlike Republicans, operate in a unified manner.