Republicans brush off Trump's call for impeachment dismissal

President Trump is sending mixed signals to Senate Republicans about what he wants from a soon-to-begin impeachment trial.

Trump’s weekend tweets backing an “outright dismissal” of the articles of impeachment put him at odds with the strategy Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has publicly advocated for weeks.

Most Senate Republicans have embraced the call for no witnesses and say they are sticking with their plan for a trial — albeit a quick one.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), an adviser to McConnell, shrugged off Trump’s criticism, arguing that senators should ignore “chatter.”

“We’ve a constitutional duty to perform, and we’re going to try to do our best and try not to get too distracted by all the chatter,” he told The Hill in response to a question about Trump’s tweets.

Cornyn also told reporters he expected opening arguments in the trial to begin a week from Tuesday, giving the Senate two weeks if it’s going to conclude its consideration of impeachment before the president is set to deliver the State of the Union address on Feb. 4.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is expected to hold a House vote this week on sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate and naming managers for the impeachment trial. She is scheduled to meet with her caucus on Tuesday morning.

Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), the No. 4 Senate Republican, said the caucus believes both Trump and the House managers deserve to make their case in a trial.