Trump's second impeachment trial will begin on February 9 1:52
(CNN) -
The second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump gets underway this Monday, when the House process managers send the impeachment charge to the Senate, even though the substance of the trial was postponed by other two weeks.
The House broadcast of the sole impeachment charge is the first of several ceremonial impeachment functions to be completed this week, before the Senate reconfirms President Joe Biden's cabinet and potentially approves the US aid package. president for covid-19.
There are still many questions about the impeachment trial, including who will preside over it, how long the trial will last, and whether witnesses will be called.
But part of the timeline itself was resolved after a week of uncertainty about when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would send the job to the Senate, thanks to an agreement reached between Senate leaders last Friday.
Under the agreement, Trump's legal team and House managers will have two weeks to exchange pretrial reports after the charge is transmitted to the Senate on Monday.
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Some National Guard soldiers will remain in Washington over concerns about potential impeachment disturbances
How will the impeachment trial against Trump proceed?
1:09
The impeachment timeline
House impeachment managers will take the charge to the Senate Monday night, and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the lead impeachment manager, will read the charge in the room.
On Tuesday, the senators will be sworn in for trial as jurors.
Then there will be a two-week period for pre-trial reports, with the trial itself beginning the week of February 8.
The deal gives something to both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who are still at odds over a 50-50 Senate power-sharing agreement.
The schedule gives Trump's legal team time to prepare for trial, after he only hired one attorney, Butch Bowers of South Carolina, last week.
For Schumer and the Biden administration, the two-week recess allows more Cabinet members to be confirmed, as all other Senate business will come to a halt once the trial begins, after Republicans refused to agree to split the days. of work of the Senate.
Republicans increasingly believe there is virtually no path to Trump's conviction in the Senate, which would require 17 members of the Republican Party to join Democrats for a two-thirds vote.
Both have argued that the trial itself is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer president (legal scholars disagree, although there is no precedent) and that going ahead with impeachment now is divisive.
"I think the trial is stupid, I think it is counterproductive.
We already have a fire burning in this country, it's like taking a lot of gasoline and pouring it on the fire, "Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said on" Fox News Sunday. "
But Democrats argue that there must be accountability to the president after he incited the rioters who ransacked the Capitol on January 6 in an effort to prevent Congress from enacting a peaceful transfer of power.
"It was a double attack on our capital in a joint session of Congress on the same day we fulfilled our constitutional obligation to certify voters," said Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, one of the nine impeachment managers for the House of Representatives.
"This is an extraordinarily heinous presidential crime, and we must move on."
ANALYSIS |
Impeachment complicates Biden's efforts to unite the country
Trump's impeachment strategy 1:07
Trump's impeachment divides opinions
Ten House Republicans voted to impeach Trump when the House voted earlier this month to impeach him on a single count, incitement to insurrection.
A handful of Senate Republicans are also likely to vote to convict him, even if it's less than the number required to convict him and bar him from running for public office again.
Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the only Republican who voted to convict Trump in the first impeachment trial, said Sunday on
CNN's
State of the Union
that it was "pretty clear" that holding the trial was constitutional, rejecting the argument coming from some of his Republican colleagues in the Senate that would give them a reason to acquit Trump.
“I believe that what is alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an imputable crime.
If not, what is it? ”Romney said of Trump's actions inciting pro-Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol.
One of the questions surrounding the trial that could be resolved this week is who will preside over the trial.
Chief Justice John Roberts presided over Trump's trial last year, but may not do so this time now that Trump is former president.
Senator Patrick Leahy, president
pro tempore
of the Senate, said Sunday that it is a "real possibility" for him to preside, and he has been preparing should he have to take on that role.
"I can't tell you how many hundreds of hours my staff and I have gone through the Constitution procedure, because it looks like I might as well be the one presiding over the trial," Leahy told MSNBC on Sunday.
Impeachment of Donald Trump