Former McCain, Romney adviser claims 30 GOP senators would vote impeachment anonymously

A longtime adviser to Republicans claims that if the tally were held in secret, 30 Republican senators would vote to remove President Donald Trump from office — and he offers a warning for Colorado Republicans hoping to re-elect U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner.

Mike Murphy, who has worked as a senior adviser to now-Sen. Mitt Romney and the late Sen. John McCain, appeared Sept. 25 on MSNBC, where he said that if the Democratic-led House votes to impeach the president and the Senate acquits him, it could spell political damage for the Republican Party in 2020.

“These Senate Republicans, should the Democrats vote impeachment – which I think is far more likely than not – are going to be pinned down to a yes-no answer,” Murphy said, “and if they provide cover for Donald Trump on this, a clear violation of his role as president, we’re going to lose Colorado with Cory Gardner. We’re going to lose Maine with Susan Collins. We’re going to lose Arizona with [Martha] McSally. And the Democrats will put the Senate very much in play.”

Gardner, R-Colorado, is running for re-election next year in what is considered to be one of the GOP’s toughest contests on the 2020 political map, given that Colorado voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016 and went overwhelmingly Democratic in last year’s state elections.

If the House votes to impeach Trump, the Senate will act as the jurors and decides whether he gets removed from office. A two-thirds majority, or 67 senators, would have to vote in favor.

Murphy, who is a critic of Trump, said that he thinks the results would not favor Trump if the count were held anonymously.

“I can tell you this, one Republican senator told me if it was a secret vote, 30 Republican senators would vote to impeach Trump,” Murphy said.

Murphy’s comments come after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry into Trump on Tuesday. The inquiry stems largely from allegations that Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to launch investigations into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

In the MSNBC interview, Murphy called the phone conversation between Trump and the Ukrainian leader “a classic shakedown.”

All Democrats in Colorado’s House delegation have said they support an impeachment probe.

Murphy also has advised Republicans Jeb Bush (who ran against Trump in 2016), Tommy Thompson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others.