The current Senate majority leader, Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky circulated a memo detailing the process for holding another trial for Trump if the House impeaches him for a second time in just over a year, The Washington Post reported Friday.
The document reportedly contains the provisions on how the Senate would proceed if the House approves articles of impeachment and transmits them to the higher chamber by January 19, when senators are expected to resume routine business after the recess in January.
McConnell reportedly states that during Trump's final 12 days the most likely scenario of impeachment for the House is to notify the Senate of the action's approval on the day of January 19, which would subsequently give the upper chamber the option of ordering the articles to be presented on the same day.
NEWS —> McConnell sends memo to GOP senators outlining how an impeachment trial would work if the House goes thru. In essence, McConnell explains how an impeachment trial would consume the first days of Biden’s presidency. Memo exclusively obtained by WaPo https://t.co/q2f2Quum1Z pic.twitter.com/SAkVVsqPvb
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) January 9, 2021
At 1 pm, Senate Impeachment Rules require that the Senate "must proceed to their consideration," the memo says, on the day after the managers display the documents. Therefore, the Senate trial would not begin until one hour after President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into his post.
"The Senate trial would therefore begin after President Trump’s term has expired – either one hour after its expiration on Jan. 20, or twenty-five hours after its expiration on Jan. 21," the memo states.
McConnell's memo states that during such pro forma meetings without unanimous consent, the Senate, which is expected to hold pro forma sessions until January 19, the day before Biden is to take the oath of office, cannot conduct any business. The memo continues with the top Senate Republican's notion that it would mean that the Senate would not be able to act on the matter until Biden is president, which raises the question of the expediency of impeachment.
"It would require the consent of all 100 senators to conduct any business of any kind during the scheduled pro forma sessions prior to January 19, and therefore the consent of all 100 senators to begin acting on any articles of impeachment during those sessions," he wrote.
At least one of the Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, has urged the president to resign for the "damage" he has done, claiming he is only remaining in office "for the title".
"I think he should leave. He said he’s not going to show up. He’s not going to appear … at the inauguration. He hasn’t been focused on what is going on with COVID. He’s either been golfing or he’s been inside the Oval Office fuming and throwing every single person who has been loyal and faithful under the bus, starting with the vice president," she told media on Friday.
On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is projected to become majority leader later this month, urged Congress to summon for emergency impeachment proceedings against Trump if Vice President Pence and other members of his administration won't take immediate action.
The calls to impeach the incumbent president have been ongoing since the violent riots in the US capital, Washington, DC, when thousands of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building, causing extensive property damage, and forcing the Congress to go under lockdown for quite some time in order to prevent its convention where the electoral college votes should have been certified to declare Biden the next president of the US.
As a result, more than 6,000 US National Guard soldiers have also been deployed to the Washington, DC, area to ensure order through the January 20 inauguration.
The Democratic Party already tried to impeach Trump in late 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress over his attempt to pressure Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate alleged corruption by the Biden family in that country.
The Democrat-controlled House successfully impeached Trump, but the Republican-controlled Senate acquitted him in February 2020.
