Article to impeach to go out Monday
Trial of Trump to begin Feb. 8
The U.S. House of Representatives will transmit its article of impeachment charging former President Donald Trump with “incitement of insurrection” to the Senate on Monday, triggering the start of a trial unlike any in American history, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said Friday.
Democrat Schumer, the Senate majority leader, said the decision had been relayed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Once the article arrives, Senate rules say the chamber must almost immediately be transformed into a court of impeachment and sit in judgment until a verdict is
reached.
“We all want to put this awful chapter in our nation’s history behind us,” Schumer said of the deadly Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters intent on overturning the election.
“But healing and unity will only come if there is truth and accountability,” he said. “And that is what this trial will provide.”
Senators will be sworn in as jurors Tuesday. Opening arguments will begin the week of Feb. 8, the first time a president will face such charges after leaving office. Schumer announced the schedule Friday evening after reaching an agreement with Republicans.
It is an undertaking that Trump’s allies argue is pointless and potentially even unconstitutional. But Democrats say they have to hold the Republican ex-president to account, even as they pursue Biden’s legislative priorities, because of the gravity of the assault on the Capitol.
If Trump is convicted, the Senate could vote to bar him from holding office ever again, upending his chances for a political comeback. Under the Constitution, Trump could suffer “disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States,” and the House impeachment article seeks to do just that.
Schumer and Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, his Republican counterpart, have been negotiating for days over further parameters for the trial in hopes of settling on bipartisan rules. Democrats are intent on trying to set up a dual track whereby the Senate could still confirm President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees — and consider his proposed $1.9 trillion covid relief package — before the trial starts each day to try to minimize the effect of the proceeding on his first days in office.
“The more time we have to get up and running … the better,” Biden said Friday in brief comments to reporters.
Despite the potential impact on his administration, Biden has kept a distance from the impeachment process, saying it is a matter for Congress to resolve.
“Once we take the trial up, we have to do the trial,” countered South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally who has been helping him find lawyers. “If you want to impeach the president, we’re going to do it like we’ve always done it. We’re not going to split the day. … That’s the business of the Senate once we go into it.”
Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 3 GOP leader, agreed, saying that once the trial begins, “the opportunity for President Biden to get a Cabinet in place is done until impeachment is done.”
“This basically stops President Biden in his tracks at a time when a number of Republicans believe that President Biden ought to be able to put a Cabinet in place,” he said.
REBUFFED REQUEST
Pelosi’s decision to move Monday, a little less than two weeks after the House’s bipartisan impeachment vote, rebuffed a request McConnell made Thursday to delay the trial to provide Trump’s newly appointed legal team time to prepare. He had asked that the heart of the trial not begin until mid-February.
Republicans were eager to delay the trial, putting distance between the shocking events of the siege and the votes that will test their loyalty to the former president who still commands voters’ attention.
However, senators could still come to their own agreement to build in extra time for pretrial written briefs to delay the start of oral arguments in the Senate. Democrats involved in the planning indicated that they were not entirely opposed to giving Trump’s team some time, out of fairness, and could use the lag to confirm more Biden nominees.
“I’ve been speaking to the Republican leader about the timing and duration of the trial,” Schumer said Friday. “But make no mistake, a trial will be held in the United States Senate, and there will be a vote on whether to convict the president,” he said. “It will be a full trial; it will be a fair trial.”
McConnell acknowledged Friday that his request had been turned down, at least in part. But he continued to argue that Republicans would insist that the president’s team be given ample time.
“Senate Republicans strongly believe we need a full and fair process where the former president can mount a defense,” he said.
“Republicans set out to ensure the Senate’s next steps will respect former President Trump’s rights and due process, the institution of the Senate, and the office of the presidency,” added McConnell spokesman Doug Andres. “That goal has been achieved.”
The imminent arrival of the article now gives the two leaders a deadline to agree to a set of trial rules to replace the default arrangement already codified in the Senate. It could also hasten along a stalled power-sharing agreement that will more broadly govern the Senate this term.
The Senate is split 50-50 but in Democratic control because Vice President Kamala Harris has the tie-breaking vote.
‘READY TO BEGIN’
Pelosi said Friday that the nine House impeachment managers, or prosecutors, are “ready to begin to make their case.”
She said in a statement that she was “attentive to the fairness of the process” and noted that Trump “will have had the same amount of time to prepare for trial as our managers.”
Democrats say they can move quickly through the trial, potentially with no witnesses, because lawmakers experienced the insurrection firsthand.
One of the managers, California Rep. Ted Lieu, said Friday that Democrats would rather be working on policy right now, but “we can’t just ignore” what happened on Jan. 6.
“This was an attack on our Capitol by a violent mob,” Lieu said in an interview. “It was an attack on our nation instigated by our commander in chief. We have to address that and make sure it never happens again.”
Trump, who told his supporters to “fight like hell” just before they invaded the Capitol two weeks ago and interrupted the electoral vote count, is still assembling his legal team.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday declined to say whether Biden thinks Trump should be convicted. But she said lawmakers can simultaneously proceed on Biden’s coronavirus relief package.
“We don’t think it can be delayed or it can wait, so they’re going to have to find a path forward,” Psaki said of the virus aid. “He’s confident they can do that.”
Democrats would need the support of at least 17 Republicans to convict Trump, a high bar. While most Republican senators condemned Trump’s actions that day, far fewer appear to be ready to convict.
A handful have indicated that they are open — but not committed — to conviction. But most have gone to Trump’s defense, saying they believe a trial will be divisive and questioning the legality of trying a president after he has left office.
Graham said Friday that there is “a very compelling constitutional case” on whether Trump can be impeached after his term — an assertion Democrats reject, saying there is ample legal precedent. Graham also suggested Republicans will argue that Trump’s words on Jan. 6 were not legally “incitement.”
“On the facts, they’ll be able to mount a defense, so the main thing is to give him a chance to prepare and run the trial orderly, and hopefully the Senate will reject the idea of pursuing presidents after they leave office,” Graham said.
Other Republicans had stronger words, suggesting there should be no trial.
Barrasso said Pelosi is sending a message to Biden that “my hatred and vitriol of Donald Trump is so strong that I will stop even you and your Cabinet from getting anything done.”
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson suggested that Democrats are choosing “vindictiveness” over national security as Biden attempts to set up his government.
“We kind of have an inkling of what the outcome is going to be,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “I mean, Democrats this time didn’t even bother to go through the motions of getting sworn testimony and having hearings in the House. This is not a serious effort. It is a serious issue, but it’s not a serious effort to comply with the requirements of due process of the Constitution when it comes to impeachment.”
McConnell, who said this week that Trump “provoked” his supporters before the riot, has not said how he will vote.
Trump, the first president to be impeached twice, is at a disadvantage compared with his first impeachment trial, in which he had the full resources of the White House counsel’s office to defend him.
Graham helped Trump hire South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers after members of his past legal teams indicated that they did not plan to join the new effort.
Though senators of both parties have suggested this trial could be shorter than Trump’s first trial, which wrapped up last February after 21 days, there is no guarantee of such brevity.
The House managers or Trump’s lawyers, for instance, could seek to call witnesses and present evidence, extending the proceedings indefinitely.