Outgoing President Donald Trump waves as he boards Marine One at the White House for the trip to Florida on January 20, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) – “Make no mistake,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Friday: An impeachment trial “will be held in the United States Senate, and there will be a vote whether to convict the president,” he said.
“I’ve spoken to Speaker Pelosi, who informed me that the articles will be delivered to the Senate on Monday,” Schumer said in a floor speech.
(Republican leader Mitch McConnell said, “By Senate rules, if the article arrives, we have to start a trial right then.”)
Schumer rejected arguments that the trial would be unconstitutional because Donald Trump is no longer in office:
“It makes no sense whatsoever that a president or any official could commit a heinous crime against our country and then be permitted to resign so as to avoid accountability and a vote to disbar them from future office. It makes no sense.”
Schumer said the Senate trial is inevitable: “The fact is, the House will deliver the article of impeachment to the Senate. The Senate will conduct a trial of the impeachment of Donald Trump. It will be a full trial. It will be a fair trial.
“But make no mistake, there will be a trial, and when that trial ends, senators will have to decide if they believe Donald John Trump incited the insurrection against the United States.”
Senate Minority Leader McConnell, following Schumer to the Senate floor on Friday, said the process is moving faster than he hoped:
“By Senate rules, if the article arrives, we have to start a trial right then,” he said.
McConnell had suggested that the House transmit the single article of impeachment next Thursday. But now it’s Monday, he noted.
“This impeachment began with an unprecedentedly fast and minimal process over in the House,” McConnell said.
“The sequel cannot be an insufficient Senate process that denies former President Trump his due process or damages the Senate or the presidency itself.
“Senate Republicans strongly believe we need a full and fair process where the former president can mount a defense and the Senate can properly consider the factual, legal, and constitutional questions at stake.”
McConnell explained his hoped-for timeline — that Trump’s response, as well as the House pretrial brief, be due on February 4, and Trump’s pretrial brief be due on Feb. 11.
“That timeline would have provided the Senate some more time before we step up fully into the unknown of a trial, which, by the way, would have been a substantial benefit to the incoming administration and allowed them to get more of their Cabinet confirmed.”
