Pelosi to Send Impeachment Article to Senate Monday

Trial could start Tuesday, though a delay is possible
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 22, 2021 10:37 AM CST
Impeachment Trial Could Start Next Week
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi displays the signed article of impeachment against Donald Trump before transmission to the Senate on Jan. 13, 2021.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

It looks like Mitch McConnell will not get his wish. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to send impeachment articles charging former President Donald Trump with "incitement of insurrection" to the Senate on Monday, reports the Hill. "Make no mistake, a trial will be held in the United States Senate and there will be a vote whether to convict the president," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Friday. Senate Minority Leader McConnell had requested the articles be sent next Thursday, with a trial delayed until February. Impeachment rules indicate the Senate must begin its trial at 1pm on the day after impeachment articles are received, unless that day is a Sunday. But it's not clear if that rule will be followed here.

In a speech from the Senate floor, Schumer said he'd "been speaking to the Republican leader about the timing and duration of the trial." They might yet work out some kind of delay in when it starts, per the New York Times. Some Senate Republicans, including Lindsey Graham, are trying to end the trial even before it even begins by questioning whether lawmakers have the constitutional authority to put a private citizen on trial. This "is shaping up to be a central theme of the ex-president's defense strategy," though "federal courts have consistently deferred to Congress' 'sole power' to set its own rules and procedures, including over impeachment proceedings," Politico reports. Trump will be represented by South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers, who was chosen Wednesday on a recommendation from Graham, the Wall Street Journal reports. (Rudy Giuliani is out.)

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