Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) displays a signed an article of impeachment against President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol on January 13, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Stefani Reynolds | Getty Images
The House will deliver the impeachment article against former President Donald Trump to the Senate on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday.
The action will start the process for the second trial the ex-president has faced for charges of high crimes and misdemeanors. While Trump has already left the White House, the Senate can vote to bar him from holding office again if it chooses to convict him.
The House earlier this month charged Trump with inciting an insurrection against the government by inflaming a mob that overran the Capitol on Jan. 6. The riot, which disrupted Congress’ count of President Joe Biden‘s electoral win, left five dead, including a Capitol police officer.
The Senate will need 67 votes to convict Trump. If all 50 Democrats support conviction, they will need 17 Republicans to join them.
Speaking after Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed concerns that Trump would not have enough time to mount a defense. He had asked the House to send the article on Thursday to ensure “a full and fair process.”
Trump has hired South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers to defend him during the trial. The nine impeachment managers who will make the House’s case are Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Diana DeGette of Colorado, David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Joaquin Castro of Texas, Eric Swalwell and Ted Lieu of California, Stacey Plaskett, the delegate for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania and Joe Neguse of Colorado.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who would not say Thursday when her chamber would transmit the article to the Senate, argued the managers would not need to prepare as much evidence for the second trial as they did for the first last year.
“This year, the whole world bore witness to the president’s incitement, to the execution of his call to action, and the violence that was used,” the California Democrat told reporters Thursday.
Schumer said he has spoken to McConnell about “the timing and duration of the trial,” but did not give any details about how long it will last. The Democratic leader aims to balance impeachment with confirmation of Biden’s Cabinet members and passage of a coronavirus relief bill.
“The Senate must and will do all three,” he said Friday.
The first trial Trump faced last year for charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress lasted about three weeks. The Republican-held Senate acquitted him.
Schumer downplayed GOP concerns that Democrats would rush through the trial after a rushed process in the House, which impeached Trump only a week after the insurrection.
“It will be a full trial. It will be a fair trial,” he said.
McConnell has not indicated whether he will vote to convict Trump. On Tuesday, he said the rioters “were provoked by the president and other powerful people.”
Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania both called on Trump to resign while he still held office. Neither has said how they plan to vote on conviction.
Murkowski said in a statement earlier this month that the House responded to the Capitol attack “swiftly, and I believe, appropriately, with impeachment.”
