Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Saturday that he will vote to acquit former President Trump, ending weeks of speculation about what he would do.

McConnell's decision, confirmed to The Hill by a GOP senator, comes hours before the Senate is expected to take a final vote on whether to convict Trump of "high crimes and misdemeanors" over an article accusing him of inciting insurrection during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

McConnell has criticized Trump's role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including saying the former president "provoked" the mob. He disclosed to reporters last month that he hadn't spoken to Trump, with whom he aligned himself closely for years, since Dec. 15.

But he also kept his caucus guessing on how he would ultimately vote, saying that he wanted to listen to the arguments from both House impeachment managers and Trump's legal team.

"Based on his comments over the past two months, I really had no idea what he was going to do," said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of GOP leadership.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Friday that he'll meet with former President Donald Trump to talk about the future of the Republican party and his role in it.

"I'm going to try and convince him that we can't get there without you, but you can't keep the Trump movement going without the GOP united," Graham said, according to Politico.

"If we come back in 2022, then, it's an affirmation of your policies. But if we lose again in 2022, the narrative is going to continue that not only you lost the White House, but the Republican Party is in a bad spot."

Although the Republicans lost the Senate and White House during the 2020 elections, they gained seats in the House. Trump also received the second most votes in a presidential election in U.S. history, even while he trailed Biden significantly in the popular vote and the Electoral College.

Since then, however, Trump's actions contesting the election, culminating in the ugly and deadly mob attack on the Capitol that led to his second impeachment, has raised new questions in GOP circles about moving on from the former president.

At the same time, Trump retains a high level of support in the GOP grassroots.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has talked before about Trump's future in the party saying that the party will keep a neutral stance on the former president as he has caused strife in the party.

"Trump's got to work with everybody," Graham said. "You got to put your best team on the field. If it's about revenge and going after people you don't like, we're going to have a problem. If this is about putting your best team on the field, we've got a decent chance at coming back."

In a decision that will shock few and surprise fewer, the New York Times editorial board has declared Donald Trump guilty. No matter the charges or evidence, the Times has been making this case for four years.

"If you fail to hold him accountable, it can happen again," the Times' editorial board wrote on Friday, in a plea to Republican senators to convict the former president.

"To excuse Mr. Trump's attack on American democracy would invite more such attempts, by him and by other aspiring autocrats," they declared. "The stakes could not be higher. A vote for impunity is an act of complicity."

That the New York Times would call for Trump's conviction is unsurprising. This is the same editorial board that described Trump's re-election campaign as "the greatest threat to American democracy since World War II," demanded lawmakers impeach the president back in 2019, then "Impeach Trump Again" after his supporters rioted at the US Capitol last month, and called for the overhaul of the entire political system to prevent someone like Trump ever coming to power again. In fact, the only decision of Trump's the board praised was his use of missile strikes against Syria in 2018, which it called "reassuring."

Borrell said ministers will have the opportunity to debate any measures at a meeting on February 22:

"I wanted to test whether the Russian authorities are interested in a serious attempt to reverse the deterioration of our relations and seize the opportunity to have a more constructive dialogue. The answer has been clear: No, they are not. I will put forward concrete proposals."

Both the EU and the US have said they are mulling sanctions as a result of the arrest and imprisonment of opposition figure Alexey Navalny. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN on Monday that the White House was contemplating taking action against Russia:

"It seems apparent that a chemical weapon was used to try to kill Mr. Navalny. That violates the chemical weapons convention and other obligations that Russia has. We're looking at the situation very carefully and when we have the results, we'll look at that in the appropriate way."

Moscow has slammed the West for seeking to change the facts of the case. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Moscow news outlet RBK last week:

"Don't meddle in the internal affairs of a sovereign state. And we recommend that everyone deals with their own problems. Believe me. they have enough of their own problems in these countries. There are plenty of issues to deal with."

Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt resigned from the embattled anti-Trump organization Friday night, claiming he did so to

"make room for the appointment of a female board member as the first step to reform and professionalize the Lincoln Project. Presently, the Lincoln Project is made up of four middle-aged white men. That composition does not reflect our nation, nor our movement. I am resigning my seat on the Lincoln Project board to make room for the appointment of a female board member as the first step to reform and professionalize the Lincoln Project.

"My purpose in writing this isn't to express what and when I knew about John Weaver, but how I feel about him, what he did and how many people he hurt. This is my truth. John Weaver has put me back into that faraway cabin with Ray, my Boy Scout leader. I am incandescently angry about it. I am angry because I know the damage that he caused to me, and I know the journey that lies ahead of every young man that trusted, feared and was abused by John Weaver."

While Schmidt said he is "enormously proud of the Lincoln Project," he offered an apology to co-founder Jennifer Horn, who resigned from the group last week, over the public dispute that was launched. He called her

"an important and valuable member of our team. She deserved better from me. She deserved a leader who could restrain his anger. I am sorry for my failure. Private messages should never have been made public.

"For me, it's time to step back from the front - to get healthy mentally, physically, and spiritually. Stay strong, There is much work to be done."

Besides Lincoln Project advisers Tom Nichols and Kurt Bardella, as well as LPTV host Nayyera Haq stepping away from the organization, fellow adviser and LPTV host Tara Setmayer also indicated her potential exit on Twitter. In addition, CNBC reported Friday that top megadonors are considering abandoning the group.

Last week, co-founder Jennifer Horn announced her resignation, which sparked a public spat between her and the group. Late Thursday, the Lincoln Project allegedly published private Twitter messages Horn sent to a reporter. Those tweets were later removed after co-founder George Conway, who left the group in August, warned that its actions may have broken federal law.

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