According to a report from Politico, Senate Republicans would prefer Donald Trump stop tweeting during his upcoming impeachment trial, saying it will make their job clearing him much more difficult.
More to the point, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) suggested, "Tweet less, smile more."
"Senate Republicans, who loathe the president’s tweeting, are hoping that when impeachment comes to the Senate, Trump will do something out of character: Stay quiet," the report states with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) telling reporters on Wednesday, "This is a solemn and serious undertaking and I just think we don’t need a bunch of distractions. The president will like the outcome, I believe, in the end. So ... making it easier not harder would be a good thing.”
According to the report, "Trump has not exactly hid his feelings about the House impeachment proceedings, often tweeting that it’s 'phony' and a 'hoax.' The president even posted tweets attacking several witnesses who testified during the House’s impeachment inquiry. And if he continues the barrage during his impeachment trial in the Senate, it could derail the Senate GOP’s strategy, annoy undecided senators and end up hurting his efforts to win unanimous acquittal from the Republican Party."
Embattled Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R) whose own re-election seems incertain, added her own words of caution to the president, saying, "The president would be best served by letting his lawyers speak for him and not doing any comment," before adding a blunt, "At all."
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is expected to lead Trump's defense on the Senate floor, also spoke to the media in an attempt to get through to Trump.
"He needs to be respectful of the process,” Graham stated. “He can defend himself, he has a right to express his grievances but if I were him I would … keep a low profile.”
With Democratic Senator Chris Murphy (CT) adding, "“Trump makes everything less serious. He’s successful in turning everything into entertainment and a reality show ... certainly the way in which he’s approaching this ends up taking some of the solemnity away from what is normally a pretty serious process," another Republican concurred.
“There [are] many cases in which I hope he doesn’t tweet,” lamented John Thune (R-SD).
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