Brit Hume: 'I don't think there are anywhere near 19 Republican senators' who would vote to remove Trump
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As the drama surrounding the House impeachment inquiry continued to build Tuesday, Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume reminded viewers that while Trump would likely be impeached, his removal from office was unlikely.
"I think it's pretty evident that the Democrats are going to go through and impeach this president. And the question then becomes, what happens in the Senate?" Hume said on "The Story with Martha MacCallum." "The president can afford to lose ... 19 Republican senators and still survive in office. I don't think there are anywhere near 19 Republican senators, if any, who are prepared to vote against him so far. So that's where we are."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on Tuesday that it is currently unlikely that President Trump would be convicted and removed from office if he were to face a Senate impeachment trial.
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“I will say I’m pretty sure how it’s likely to end,” McConnell told reporters in Washington. “If it were today, I don’t think there’s any question it would not lead to a removal.”
Hume told MacCallum that Republicans in the Senate are unlikely to agree with House Democrats.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"They'll have to hold a trial," Hume said. "But at this point, I don't think that the Democrats in the House have moved the ball very far toward getting Republicans to go along as they need."
Hume also reacted to a new Gallup poll that says 89 percent of Democrats want Trump impeached and removed from office. In 1974, the same poll, taken days before Richard Nixon's resignation, found that 71 percent of Democrats wanted Nixon removed from office.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The veteran political commentator also speculated that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., may not have called for an impeachment inquiry if she had seen the Ukraine phone call transcript before her announcement.
"It was the night before ... that transcript, such as it is, was released," Hume said. "So, I mean, my guess has been and I don't know this, but my guess has been if she'd seen the transcript ahead of time, she might not have done it."
Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.