Maryland GOP governor says he would have voted to convict Trump

Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan said Sunday that he would have joined with Democrats to convict former President Trump in his second impeachment trial and bar him from running for federal office again were he a senator, echoing his late father’s vote to impeach former President Nixon.

Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Hogan was asked by host Jake Tapper if he would have voted to convict the former president on Saturday, when Trump was acquitted in a 57-43 vote.

“I would have,” Hogan responded.

Hogan added during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the argument of House impeachment managers was “pretty convincing.” 

The governor added on CNN that he believed the former president could face criminal action as well as a heavily tarnished legacy following the Jan. 6 violence at the Capitol and his weeks of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

“There was yesterday’s vote, but there’s definitely a number of potential court cases, and I think he’s still going to face the courts and the court of public opinion,” Hogan said.

He also took aim at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell during the interview for sharply criticizing Trump in a Senate floor speech following the Kentucky Republican’s vote to acquit, during which McConnell claimed that there was no doubt in anyone’s minds that Trump was “morally” responsible for the riot.

“Leader McConnell’s words were pretty strong. It didn’t match how he voted,” Hogan said.

The Maryland governor has been one of Trump’s most vocal critics in the Republican Party throughout 2020 and the first months of 2021; he called for Trump resign or be removed from office a day after the Capitol violence last month, and backed the previous impeachment inquiry in 2020 that also resulted in an acquittal.

Hogan was also critical of the White House’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout 2020.