WASHINGTON — The ghost of Howard H. Baker Jr., the Republican senator from Tennessee who turned in opposition to Richard M. Nixon throughout Waterg
WASHINGTON — The ghost of Howard H. Baker Jr., the Republican senator from Tennessee who turned in opposition to Richard M. Nixon throughout Watergate, is hovering over Senator Lamar Alexander.
Mr. Alexander, a third-term Republican from Tennessee who is retiring at the end of this year, has stated that nobody outdoors his household has had extra affect on him than Mr. Baker, the previous Senate majority chief who’s remembered for the penetrating query he posed as Nixon stared down impeachment: “What did the president know, and when did he understand it?”
Now Mr. Alexander might maintain in his arms the destiny of one other Republican president who’s dealing with elimination from workplace. He’s one in all 4 Republican moderates who’ve expressed openness to bringing witnesses into President Trump’s impeachment trial — and the one one who is just not working for re-election and arguably has nothing to lose.
But because the Senate heads towards a vote on the matter, Mr. Alexander — who has damaged with Mr. Trump over commerce, the border wall and well being care — doesn’t seem prepared for a Howard Baker second. He has stated he’ll decide about witnesses after Mr. Trump’s group presents its protection and senators have a possibility to ask questions, however he doesn’t sound desirous to defect.
“Because the Home managers have stated many instances, they’ve introduced us with a mountain of overwhelming proof,” he advised reporters within the Capitol on Friday. “So we have now rather a lot to contemplate already.”
Mr. Alexander’s warning suggests what Republicans in Tennessee and across the nation already know: that the Howard Baker wing of their celebration, the one populated by moderate-leaning conservatives keen to achieve throughout the political aisle, is nearly extinct. Bob Corker, one other Tennessee Republican, realized as a lot when he spoke out in opposition to Mr. Trump after which felt compelled to retire in 2018 from the Senate. So did Jeff Flake, the former Republican senator from Arizona, who watched a few of Mr. Trump’s trial from the Senate gallery this week.
“As a Republican, it pains me once I see Republicans, Home Republicans, attempt to keep that the president did no flawed, that that is one way or the other regular. It’s not,” Mr. Flake advised reporters, although he stated he was undecided he would vote to convict Mr. Trump.
That type of speak is absent amongst Republicans within the Senate nowadays, even from members like Mr. Alexander, who in 2016 made clear that “Trump was not his first alternative for president,” as his hometown newspaper, The Nashville Tennessean reported. But when Mr. Alexander has points with the president, he tends to lift them quietly, individuals who know him say.
There may be little query that Mr. Alexander will vote to acquit Mr. Trump. He has known as the House impeachment inquiry “a circus,” and stated Democrats made a “mistake” in charging Mr. Trump with excessive crimes and misdemeanors for pressuring Ukraine to research his political rivals. However he was amongst 4 Senate Republicans — together with Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah — who pressed Senator Mitch McConnell, the bulk chief, to permit a vote on whether or not to subpoena witnesses and search new paperwork.
The White Home has regarded Mr. Alexander — who doesn’t have a detailed relationship with Mr. Trump — as a wild card within the continuing.
Democrats, who management 47 votes within the Senate, would wish 4 Republicans to hitch them to broaden the scope of the trial, however thus far solely two — Ms. Collins and Mr. Romney — appear to be leaning into the thought.
And Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, who’s shut with Mr. Alexander, is set to carry Republicans collectively to dam it. The 2 males met in Washington in 1969, when Mr. Alexander was a younger aide in Nixon’s White Home and Mr. McConnell a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill. It was Mr. Baker who introduced them.
“I search his counsel on a weekly foundation on an entire number of points,” Mr. McConnell stated in a short assertion. “He’s my closest pal within the Senate.”
Mr. McConnell has generally used Mr. Alexander as a conduit to Democrats, notably to Harry Reid, the previous senator from Nevada, when he was minority chief. Mr. Reid and Mr. McConnell didn’t get alongside, so Mr. Alexander — who had been in Republican management however stepped away to focus extra on laws — served as an “trustworthy dealer” between the 2, stated Jim Manley, a former aide to Mr. Reid.
However Mr. Manley stated Mr. Alexander “nonetheless toed the celebration line.”
When Mr. McConnell put forth a decision establishing a speedy timetable for the impeachment trial, some Republicans balked and Democrats objected. However Mr. Alexander issued a press release praising the principles.
Individuals near Mr. Alexander say they do not know whether or not he’ll vote to permit witnesses — and that he might not know but himself. Ought to he accomplish that, he can be a “pariah” within the state, stated one conservative activist in Tennessee, who requested anonymity to talk candidly…