Donald Trump’s Impeachment Trial Will Start Next Week, Mitch McConnell Reportedly Said In Meeting
President Donald Trump and his legal team received some welcome news on Thursday after it was reported that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell revealed during a closed-door meeting that the official impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate will begin next week.
According to The Hill, three senators who were in on the meeting were reportedly told not to count on going home next weekend, presumably due to what could be another fiery battle in the upper chamber over the two articles of impeachment drafted against the president last year.
“There’s no reason for us to stay this weekend, but don’t expect to be home next weekend was the basic message,” Sen. Kevin Cramer said, referring to the meeting with McConnell.
On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — who has purposely withheld the impeachment articles from the Senate, until fair rules are ironed out — indicated that she would be transmitting the articles of impeachment to the upper chamber “soon.”
“I’m not holding them indefinitely,” Pelosi said during a Thursday press briefing. “I’ll send them over when I’m ready, and that will probably be soon.”
Two other Republicans in the Senate, Sen. Roy Blunt and Sen. John Cornyn, both confirmed that the trial is expected to begin next week, according to The Hill.
“It’s an assumption of what we believe will happen,” Sen. Blunt said. “I believe we’re believing, as we believed last weekend, that these documents are about to come over.”
News of the nearing impeachment trial comes on the heels of several recent developments regarding several scenarios that could play out, including a recent announcement by McConnell that he has enough votes to begin the long-awaited impeachment trial without requiring Democrats to have any input on the rules.
Pelosi has also recently come under fire from a growing list of Democrats in the Senate for stalling the trial, according to Politico. Sen. Dianne Feinstein sharply requested that Pelosi send over the articles sooner than later.
“The longer it goes on the less urgent it becomes,” Feinstein said on Wednesday. “So if it’s serious and urgent, send them over. If it isn’t, don’t send it over.”
When you're Nancy Pelosi and you lose the support of Dianne Feinstein on impeachment…it’s not a good look. pic.twitter.com/DCMsMEqxOq
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) January 9, 2020
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, earlier this week, a group of Republican senators banded together and introduced a resolution that would dismiss the articles of impeachment against Trump. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri took the lead on the resolution, citing a “failure to prosecute” as grounds for the dismissal.
Hawley received support from a number of high-profile senators on his dismissal resolution, including support from Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Rick Scott, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
