On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told fellow Republican Senators that he is undecided on whether to object to the impeachment of President Trump over the violent protests at Capitol Hill.
“While the press has been full of speculation, 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,” McConnell wrote in a letter obtained by The Hill.
McConnell’s statement was given after the Republican strategist told The Associated Press that the Senate GOP leader thinks the president is guilty of impeachable offenses.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump on charges he incited an “insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol last week…
The chamber voted 232-197 in favor of impeachment, making Trump the first U.S. president in history to be impeached twice.
Democrats and ten Republicans voted along with the impeachment, including Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.
Despite the House vote, McConnell declined to assemble an emergency session beginning Friday to open an impeachment trial in the upper chamber.
“Given the rules, procedures, and Senate precedents that govern presidential impeachment trials, there is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude before President-elect Biden is sworn in next week,” the Republicans said in a statement.
It’s unclear when the Senate trial will occur. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office has confirmed that he will not bring the upper chamber back before Tuesday, meaning the trial will likely pass inauguration day and into President-elect Biden’s first term.
McConnell said Wednesday, “Given the rules, procedures, and Senate precedents that govern presidential impeachment trials, there is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude before President-elect Biden is sworn in next week”. “Even if the Senate process were to begin this week and move promptly, no final verdict would be reached until after President Trump had left office. This is not a decision I am making; it is a fact.”
