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Good Monday morning. I'm Adrienne Hurst and welcome to your Politico Playbook audio briefing.

With the trial start date finally on the horizon, the pressure is on for Senate Republicans to acquit

former President Trump. And that's regardless of whether they think he actually committed an

impeachable offense. Minority leader Mitch McConnell is not

giving a whole lot of guidance on this issue, leaving it up to members to vote their conscience.

But at this point, it's all about self-preservation. We've got two weeks until the trial

kicks off on February 9th. And right now, Senate sources tell playbook activists and typical

Republican primary voters are pushing senators away from conviction.

Donors are calling up GOP members urging them to do more to defend the ex-president,

biting their nails over what they worry could really hurt the GOP if more than a handful vote to convict.

That's the possibility of a third-party MAGA uprising.

That's all to say, this is not an easy vote for Republicans, not even those who want Trump

gone for good. Some senators, including Ron Johnson, John Kennedy, and Rick Scott, complained on a

GOP conference call last week that they shouldn't be holding a trial in the first place.

They asked McConnell how they can get out of it, floating the idea of appealing to the Supreme Court to toss out the case, something McConnell's staff explained the chamber probably doesn't

have the standing to do. And the Washington Post reports that members of the RNC, where Trump

still enjoys a lot of support, were in a heated argument

this weekend over how to handle impeachment. McConnell, for his part, has made clear he does not

see it as his job to help Trump with his strategy. He told senators looking to do that,

go talk to Trump ally Lindsey Graham. Meanwhile, Trump allies aren't being shy about warning fellow Republicans that

they'll pay if they vote to convict, possibly with their careers. Representative Matt Gates of

...