The result was expected, given the swift Republican anger toward the senator on Saturday after he cast his guilty vote. Among Burr’s critics is state party chairman Michael Whatley, who called the senator’s decision “shocking and disappointing.”
In a statement released after the vote, the committee members said the unanimous vote was aimed at punishing Burr for his “vote to convict former President Trump in the impeachment trial which he declared to be unconstitutional.”
The committee specifically said Burr should have aligned himself “with the strong majority of Republicans in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate” who believe that the impeachment was unconstitutional.
“Now that the Senate has voted to acquit President Trump, we hope that Democrats will set aside their divisive partisan agenda and focus on the American priorities of tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, safely reopening schools and restarting the economy,” the committee said.
The 57 guilty votes on Saturday fell short of the 67 needed to convict the former President, resulting in his acquittal on the charge of inciting the January 6 insurrection.
Kyshia Lineberger, the RNC committeewoman from North Carolina, said before the vote that she believed Burr deserved censure.
“I am voting yes because he failed his state and his constituents by voting to convict FORMER President Trump in what was an unconstitutional trial. A trial that even he said was unconstitutional,” she said in an email. “At the end of the day, America is a Republic where we the people elect representatives. Senator Burr did not represent the will of the people and that is a shame.”
Burr said in a statement on Saturday that Trump “bears responsibility” for the insurrection, adding that the former President “used his office to first inflame the situation instead of immediately calling for an end to the assault.”
“The evidence is compelling that President Trump is guilty of inciting an insurrection against a coequal branch of government and that the charge rises to the level of high Crimes and Misdemeanors. Therefore, I have voted to convict,” the statement read.
CNN’s Daniella Diaz contributed to this report.