NC GOP To Vote On Censuring Burr After Impeachment Vote

February 15, 2021

Brittney Melton, AP,

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Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., leaves the chamber as the Senate voted to consider hearing from witnesses in the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., departs on Capitol Hill in Washington, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021, after the Senate acquitted former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial in the Senate. Trump was accused of inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and the acquittal gives him a historic second victory in the court of impeachment. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Republican Party is expected to vote Monday on whether to censure Sen. Richard Burr over his vote to convict former President Donald Trump during Trump’s second impeachment trial.

Party spokesman Tim Wigginton told multiple news outlets Sunday that the group’s central committee would meet for the vote Monday night.

Burr is one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump of “incitement of insurrection.” Burr initially voted against the trial’s constitutionality, but said he resolved to be an “impartial juror” once the full Senate decided to proceed.

North Carolina GOP Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement Saturday that Burr’s vote to convict “in a trial that he declared unconstitutional is shocking and disappointing.”

Burr said in a statement after the trial that Trump “bears responsibility” for the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

“The evidence is compelling that President Trump is guilty of inciting an insurrection against a coequal branch of government and that the charge rises to the level of high Crimes and Misdemeanors,” Burr stated Saturday. “Therefore, I have voted to convict.”

Ultimately, Trump was acquitted of the charge because the 57-43 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for conviction.