North Carolina Republican Party votes to censure Burr for vote to convict Trump The Hill - 6 minutes ago

The North Carolina Republican Party's central committee voted unanimously on Monday to censure Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) over his vote on Saturday to convict former President Trump .

The committee announced the censure in a statement that argued Burr's vote to convict went outside the authority of the Constitution.

"Tonight, the North Carolina Republican Party Central Committee (NCGOP) voted unanimously to censure Senator Richard Burr for his vote to convict former President Trump in the impeachment trial which he declared to be unconstitutional," the committee said in a statement, adding that "the Democrat-led attempt to impeach a former President lies outside the United States Constitution."

"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," it concluded.

Burr was one of seven Republicans who sided with Democrats on Saturday to vote to convict Trump. Those Republicans are now facing fierce criticism from conservatives and Trump allies within their party.

Burr's censure comes as Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) also face calls to be censured over their vote.

The North Carolina Democratic Party blasted the censure, with Chair Wayne Goodwin saying in a statement that the state's GOP is "is in an all out civil war."

"Today’s censure vote against their senior Senator for a vote of conscience in the most bipartisan conviction of a president in history proves this is the Donald Trump Party above all else," Goodwin said in a statement. "North Carolinians are already fleeing the party by the thousands, donors are closing their checkbooks, and political leaders are withdrawing their support after North Carolina Republicans helped incite a dangerous attack on our Capitol, and the fallout is only growing."

Senators voted 57-43 Saturday on whether to convict Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors for “willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States.”