McConnell is said to be pleased about impeachment, believing it will make it easier to purge
Trump from the Republican Party.
Senate Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, walks to the Senate chambers in the Capitol
building on Wednesday.
Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, has told associates he believes President
Trump committed impeachable offenses and that he is pleased that Democrats are moving to
impeach him, believing that it will make it easier to purge him from the party, according
to people familiar with his thinking.
The House is voting Wednesday to formally charge Mr. Trump with inciting violence against
the country.
At the same time, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader and one of Mr. Trump's most
steadfast allies in Congress, has asked other Republicans whether he ought to call on Mr.
Trump to resign in the aftermath of last week's riot at the Capitol, according to three Republican
officials briefed on the conversations.
While Mr McCarthy has said he is personally opposed to impeachment, he and other party
leaders have decided not to formally lobby Republicans to vote no, and an aide to Mr
McCarthy said he was open to a measure censuring Mr Trump for his conduct.
In private, Mr McCarthy reached out to a leading House Democrat to see if the chamber would
be willing to pursue a censure vote, though Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ruled it out.
Taken together, the stances of Congress's two top Republicans — neither of whom has
said publicly that Mr Trump should resign or be impeached — reflected the politically
fraught and fast-moving nature of the crisis that the party faces in the wake of last week's
assault by a pro-Trump mob during a session to formalize President-elect Joseph R. Biden
Jr.'s electoral victory.