Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Wednesday that a Senate trial would be better on any articles of impeachment passed by the House against President Donald Trump because Republicans lack the votes to immediately dismiss the charges.
"There's some people talking about trying to stop the bill, dismiss charges basically as soon as they get over here," the third-term Cornyn, 67, told reporters, The Hill reports. "I think that's not going to happen.
"That would require 51 votes.
"I think it would be hard to find 51 votes to cut the case off before the evidence is presented," he said.
Dismissing charges quickly against President Trump would require 51 votes, but Cornyn said that might be tough since Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate.
"The better course would be to let each side have their say and then have the Senate vote and see if they can meet the two-thirds threshold" to convict Trump, Cornyn said.
At least 67 votes would be needed for senators to remove the president from office. Otherwise, a two-thirds majority of those present is necessary, which would require at least 20 Republican votes, The Hill reports.
Cornyn doubted that enough GOP senators would convict Trump of articles of impeachment, telling reporters instead that Republicans preferred a full trial.
"In the end, we need to have a process that the American people think was fair," he said.
Cornyn's comments came on the first day of public hearings in the House in the Democratic impeachment inquiry. Further sessions are scheduled for Friday and next week.