Biden says ‘minds may have been changed’ by graphic videos at Trump impeachment trial

Mr Biden suggested that some Republican Senators who previously may have acquitted the former President and leader of their party might now be convinced to vote to convict Mr Trump

President Biden said that "minds may have been changed" by the graphic videos shown during former President Trump's second impeachment trial.

During a meeting with Republican Senators on the morning of the third day of the trial, Mr Biden suggested that some of the Senators who previously were going to acquit the former President and leader of their party might now be convinced to vote to convict Mr Trump.

“I think the Senate has a very important job to complete, and I think, my guess is some minds may have been changed. But I don’t know," Mr Biden said during a photo op with reporters after a meeting on infrastructure and jobs.

After staying as silent as possible on the issue of his predecessor's second impeachment, Mr Biden opined on the status of the trial with GOP Senators who are acting as jurors in the trial and will cast the votes deciding Mr Trump's fate sitting beside him in the White House.

Mr Biden didn't respond when he was asked whether he thought a conviction of Mr Trump was possible.

The Republican Senators present were Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, the Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the former Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and current Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee.

Read more: Follow live updates on Mr Trump's second impeachment trial

Both of them voted against the constitutionality of the trial twice and have not been mentioned among the few Republican Senators who are thought to maybe be able to switch their thinking and vote to convict Mr Trump.

Only 6 Republicans voted with the Democrats to move ahead with the trial. Despite the damning presentation by the House impeachment managers, it still looks unlikely that 17 Republicans will cross the aisle and vote with Democrats to convict Mr Trump, meaning that it seems that the threshold of a two-thirds majority in the Senate required for conviction is still out of reach.

The only Republican to vote to convict Mr Trump during his first impeachment trial, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, told reporters after seeing new video evidence of the Capitol riot: "It was obviously very troubling to see the great violence that our Capitol police and others were subjected to. It tears at your heart and brings tears to your eyes. That was overwhelmingly distressing and emotional."

Mr Inhofe, who attended the Biden meeting Thursday, told reporters Wednesday: “I’ll say this, the House has put... a real good team together," but added that “Not from anything I’ve seen so far,” had done anything to change his mind.

He added: “And I can’t imagine what else is out there. We’ve had all this time for everyone to use every possible argument they could use. So I’ve heard them all.”