The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
» Uncertainty surrounds next steps as case heads to Senate,
Senate locked in bitter struggle over how to conduct proceedings.
WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump prepares to stand trial in the Senate next month — proceedings that were triggered with his impeachment by the House on Wednesday — senators are hurtling toward an acquittal that is all but assured but with much uncertainty about how the chamber will arrive there.
What might happen
For now, there is no clarity on how long a trial will last or even when it will begin. It is almost certain that there will not be a bipartisan agreement on witnesses. With very limited exceptions, senators are taking their cues from their party leaders, with Senate Republicans increasingly coordinating with the White House on a trial strategy that they insist will be fairer than what the House afforded Trump. Adding to the uncertainty: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., late Wednesday left open the possibility the House may not immediately send the articles of impeachment to the Senate, saying she wants to know more about how the trial will proceed.
What is certain is that the bipartisan bonhomie that at least helped launch President Bill Clinton’s Senate trial two decades ago is gone. The chamber is already locked in a bitter struggle over how the proceedings for Trump will be conducted, as the two sides trade accusations of impartiality and a rush to judgment.
Even before the two men have spoken privately, the bad blood between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has spilled into the open, with the pair trading barbs in dueling floor speeches and media interviews rather than negotiating one on one.
Yet senators are balancing their partisan roles with a desire to protect the integrity of the Senate, particularly as a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that more than 6 in 10 Americans say they’re confident the Senate will give Trump a fair trial.
About the difficulties
Some senators concede that the task may be more difficult today than it was during the Clinton impeachment.
“It’s not just the individuals, the players, but I think the game is different today than it was back then,” said Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., who will play a central role in ensuring there will be a majority of GOP senators for a swift impeachment trial.
As Thune prepares for January, he met privately Wednesday with former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., who as majority leader helped steer Clinton’s trial.
“For something like this, it really needs, I think, to move forward in a way that builds upon some sort of bipartisanship and some level of cooperation that suggests, you know, that it isn’t just chaos around here,” Thune said.
But any semblance of bipartisanship on setting the parameters of Trump’s trial has largely evaporated — if it ever existed.
Schumer and McConnell’s roles
For days, Democrats have been infuriated at McConnell’s public acknowledgment that he was coordinating with the White House — a complaint Republicans have shrugged off, saying they don’t consider themselves impartial jurors in what they contend is a political process.
Schumer fired the opening shot in the trial negotiations this week, requesting the testimony of four witnesses from the Trump administration who had rebuffed requests and subpoenas from the House to testify in its impeachment inquiry. Schumer has threatened to force floor votes during a trial on calling those witnesses.
McConnell pointedly noted that Schumer went to the news media with his requests first rather than to him. Thune said the minority leader’s tactic “just rubbed a lot of our members the wrong way.”
Indeed, Schumer’s offer was designed largely to pressure a handful of GOP senators who Democrats think could break with their party and demand that the Senate hold a more thorough trial because they face tough reelection contests or are retiring or considering how their role in the impeachment battle will affect their legacies.
In the absence of bipartisan talks, Senate Republicans have intensified their coordination with the administration in recent days. McConnell — who has made clear his preference for a limited trial with no witnesses — has been in regular contact with the president and his legal team, according to GOP officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks.
When will questions be answered?
Senate leaders hope to resolve at least some of the other lingering questions this week.
In a lunch with Republican senators Tuesday, McConnell said he hopes senators will know before leaving for the holidays this week when the impeachment trial will begin in January, said a senator who was in attendance. That information was confirmed by two officials familiar with the discussion.
Once the articles of impeachment have been delivered to the Senate, the chamber will have to take them up. What the Senate does then will not be finalized until McConnell and Schumer have had a chance to discuss the trial, but senators are likely to have to reach some sort of agreement to set a trial date in January.