Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, the most endangered Democrat in this November's elections, said Wednesday that he will vote to convict President Trump when the Senate impeachment trial reaches its climax, the AP reports. In remarks on the Senate floor, Jones said the sum of the evidence produced "a picture of a president who has abused the great power of his office for personal gain, a picture of a president who has placed his personal interest well above the interest of the nation." Jones' announcement was significant for Democrats, who are hoping their party will present a united front by unanimously voting to remove Trump from office. That would deny Trump and his GOP allies a campaign season talking point that the Senate's virtually certain acquittal of Trump was bipartisan.
Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are among other Democrats being closely watched for their votes later Wednesday. It would take 67 votes in the Republican-dominated Senate—two-thirds of senators—to remove Trump. No Republicans have indicated so far that they will vote to convict. Jones faces reelection this fall in a heavily Republican state that Trump carried by 28 percentage points in 2016. In an upset, Jones narrowly won a special election for a vacant seat in 2017 against Republican nominee Roy Moore. Jones, who will need to win support from independents and some Republicans to win reelection, had long indicated that he'd been troubled by Trump's actions pressuring Ukraine to seek harmful information on political foe Joe Biden.
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