Impeachment article against Trump to be delivered to Senate Monday

Democratic and Republican leaders have yet to reach an agreement on Trump’s trial schedule, but it will be a full trial.

A two-thirds supermajority is needed to convict in a presidential impeachment trial, meaning 17 Republicans would need to support conviction for it to succeed if all Democrats also voted to convict. Picture: AFP

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said she would send the article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate on Monday, triggering a second impeachment trial, but details of the proceedings remained unresolved.

The Democratic impeachment managers are “ready to begin to make their case to 100 Senate jurors through the trial process,” Mrs. Pelosi said in a brief statement Friday. The nine managers, who act as prosecutors in the case, will be led by Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) gave no details on how the trial will be conducted, and Democratic and Republican party leaders have yet to reach an agreement on the schedule. “It will be a full trial, it will be a fair trial,” he said Friday on the Senate floor.

The House voted last week to impeach Mr. Trump, alleging he incited a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, which left five people dead. The article of impeachment had support from all House Democrats and 10 Republicans.

Some Republican senators have said that it would be unconstitutional to hold an impeachment trial of a president who has left office, arguing the Senate lacks jurisdiction to try him because he would be a private citizen.

Mr. Schumer rejected that criticism. Part of the trial process allows for a vote on barring the president from holding federal office again, and Mr. Schumer said not conducting a trial would set a dangerous precedent.

“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,” Mr. Schumer said. “There will be a trial and when that trial ends, senators will have to decide if they believe Donald John Trump incited...insurrection against the United States.” A spokesman for Mr. Trump didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Two federal officials have been impeached after leaving office, according to the Senate Historical Office. In 1798, the Senate dismissed a case for lack of jurisdiction after Sen. William Blount had been expelled by the Senate. In 1876, the Senate held an impeachment trial for William Belknap, who had resigned as secretary of war, but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict him.

Mrs. Pelosi’s announcement Friday came a day after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) proposed that the article be sent over Jan. 28 and then both the impeachment managers and Mr. Trump’s defense team be given two weeks to complete pretrial briefs and responses.

In his own floor remarks, Mr. McConnell said the arrival of the article will force the Senate to start a trial immediately, delaying confirmation for President Biden’s nominees and his administration’s other priorities.

“This impeachment began with an unprecedented fast and minimal process over in the House,” Mr. McConnell said in floor remarks following Mr. Schumer. “The sequel cannot be an insufficient Senate process that denies former President Trump due process or damages the Senate or the presidency itself.” Mr. Biden has suggested splitting Senate sessions, so that part of each day is devoted to the trial, and the rest of the day for other matters, such as confirmation votes and legislation. But that isn’t possible without a bipartisan agreement.

If the impeachment article comes over Monday without such a deal, the opportunity for Mr. Biden to get a cabinet in place is over until after the impeachment trial is done, said Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.).

“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,” Mr. Barrasso told reporters on Friday.

There are still a few days for both parties to reach an agreement that would set a trial schedule that allows for other work to get done and for Mr. Trump to build his defense.

“Well, we can do anything after the articles come over that we can all agree to,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R., Mo.). “If we can’t agree, as I understand it, the next day at 1 o’clock we start the trial and we stay with it six days a week until we’re done. But I believe there’s a desire to agree to a different structure than that.” That would all have to be worked out between Messrs. McConnell and Schumer, he said.

Mr. McConnell and some other Republicans have said they are considering whether to vote to convict Mr. Trump during his second impeachment trial. A two-thirds supermajority is needed to convict in a presidential impeachment trial, meaning 17 Republicans would need to support conviction for it to succeed if all Democrats also voted to convict.

Mr. Trump has told associates he has picked Butch Bowers, a South Carolina attorney, to represent him in the trial, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Wall Street Journal