Trump impeachment trial could happen during President-elect Joe Biden's presidency, and Democrats are worried.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the Republican senator will not bring the upper chamber back earlier than Tuesday. This was relayed to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Schumer called on his GOP counterpart to use emergency powers to quickly conduct a trial and vote on whether to convict Trump.
The House will vote Wednesday to impeach Trump for his actions that influenced the violence at the US Capitol last week while Congress was counting Biden’s electoral win. Democrats are worried a Senate trial during Biden’s presidency would affect the confirmation of Cabinet members and passage of a coronavirus relief package.
Biden previously said that the Senate could “bifurcate,” using part of its day on impeachment and another part on announcing nominees.
Schumer will serve as the majority leader after the two Democratic senators-elect from Georgia are sworn in.
The House implemented several things to hurry an impeachment article to the floor Wednesday. However, whether a McConnell-led Senate would make any additional move to accelerate the process remains unclear.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that McConnell thinks Trump held impeachable acts. In a message to colleagues, McConnell said he had not thought about supporting the impeachment yet.
“I have not made a final decision on how I will vote and I intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said he would look into an impeachment measure sent from the House. GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania both urged Trump to resign.
“I want him out. He has caused enough damage,” Murkowski told the Anchorage Daily News.
Sen. Lindsey Graham announced that he does not support Trump impeachment trial.
Graham slammed the rushed process in the House and defended Trump, saying he has “committed to an orderly transfer of power, encouraging calm and rejecting violence.” Trump said on Tuesday that the impeachment posed a “tremendous danger” to the country.
Graham also shaded Republicans who call for Trump's impeachment.
“To my Republican colleagues who legitimize this process, you are doing great damage not only to the country, the future of the presidency but also to the party,” he said.
Among the Republican lawmakers who will vote to impeach President Trump are Rep. Liz Cheney, Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., Reps. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash.
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence said that he will not invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
“I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution,” Pence wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Pence did not cite the issue of impeachment. However, he did call on Congress “to avoid actions that would further divide and inflame the passions of the moment” as “we prepare to inaugurate President-elect Joe Biden as the next President of the United States.”
