Former President Donald Trump is pushing to create a new ‘Patriot Party,’ which he can use as leverage to prevent senators from convicting him in his impeachment trial,
The Washington Post reported.
Sources told the Post that the former president has been talking to advisers about starting the Patriot Party or MAGA Party to challenge ‘disloyal’ Republicans who helped impeach him or are considering voting to convict him.
Since leaving office, Trump has ensconced at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida but he told a reporter on Friday that “We’ll do something, but not just yet.”
Trump is reportedly drafting an enemies list of Republicans who opposed his claims of election fraud, sources said to the Post.
The list also includes the House’s number three Republican, Rep Liz. Cheney of Wyoming, who voted to impeach the former president over his role in the Capitol riot.
South Carolina Republican Rep Tom Rice is also on the list.
Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who has said that she is open to voting to convict Trump, is reportedly the primary target of the Patriot Party.
Brian Kemp, the Georgia Governor, is also on the list after he provoked Trump’s fury for refusing to back his challenge to the election results.
Sources also said that the party has over $70 million in campaign cash on hand, the Daily Mail reported.
The Post said in recent weeks that the former president had considered the idea of making a third party “and instructed his aides to prepare election challenges to lawmakers who crossed him in the final weeks in office.”
“Multiple people in Trump’s orbit … say Trump has told people that the third-party threat gives him leverage to prevent Republican senators from voting to convict him during the Senate impeachment trial,” it added.
An article of impeachment is set to be given to the Senate on Monday. Trump, who is the only president to have been impeached twice, could be barred from running for office again if convicted in the Senate.
The Senate is scheduled to start the week of February 8.
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