Many Republican senators "despise" President Donald Trump and would love to replace him with Vice President Mike Pence, according to Axios reporter Jonathan Swan -- yet there's still a chance none of them will vote to convict in an impeachment trial.
Republicans continue to defend the president from damning evidence offered in closed-door depositions in the House impeachment inquiry, and Swan said there's no sign at this point that public hearings will push GOP senators over the edge.
"I think a scenario we need to seriously consider is zero," Swan told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I think there is not an insignificant chance that zero Republican senators defect if nothing new comes out and we've got the current set of facts that we're dealing with."
"We interviewed Mitt Romney, and he is supposedly the weakest brick in the red wall," he added. "I mean, he's not there yet, and just based on the interview we did with him, if he's the weakest brick that red wall, it's a pretty strong wall over there in the Senate."
Swan said their public support for the president runs counter to what many Republican senators say in private -- for whatever that's worth.
"Privately they all -- not all of them, but a lot them -- despise the president," he said, "say that they, you know, they wish they could politically get away with replacing him with Mike Pence. But none of that matters because, when it comes down to it and when they have to do things in public and they vote, they step in line."