House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) shows a signed impeachment article against President Donald Trump in the US Capitol on January 13, 2021 in the US Capitol in Washington, DC.
Stefani Reynolds | Getty Images
The House will submit the impeachment article against former President Donald Trump to the Senate on Monday, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said on Friday.
The action will start the process for the second trial the ex-president faced for high crimes and misdemeanors. While Trump has already left the White House, the Senate can vote to ban him from taking office again if it convicts him.
Parliament earlier this month accused Trump of instigating an anti-government riot by igniting a mob who overran the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The Senate will need 67 votes to condemn Trump. If all 50 Democrats support a guilty verdict, it will take 17 Republicans to join them.
According to Schumer, Senate Minority Chairman Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Raised concerns that Trump would not have enough time to build a defense. He asked the House to air the article on January 28th to ensure “a full and fair trial.”
Trump hired South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers to defend him during the trial. The nine impeachment managers who will represent the case of the House are Democratic Representatives Jamie Raskin from Maryland, Diana DeGette from Colorado, David Cicilline from Rhode Island, Joaquin Castro from Texas, Eric Swalwell and Ted Lieu from California, Stacey Plaskett, the delegates the US Virgin Islands, Madeleine Dean from Pennsylvania, and Joe Neguse from Colorado.
House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, who wouldn’t say Thursday when her chamber would send the article to the Senate, claimed managers didn’t need to prepare as much evidence for the second trial as they did for the first last year.
“This year the whole world witnessed the president’s instigation, call to action and violence,” the California Democrat told reporters.
Schumer said he spoke to McConnell about “when and how long the trial will take” but did not provide details of how long it would take. The Democratic leader wants to align the impeachment process with the confirmation of Biden cabinet members and the passage of a law to ease the coronavirus.
“The Senate must and will do all three,” he said on Friday.
The first trial against Trump last year for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress lasted about three weeks. The Republican-held Senate acquitted him.
Schumer downplayed the GOP’s concerns that the Democrats would rush through the process after a hasty trial in the House indicting Trump just a week after the riot.
“It will be a full process. It will be a fair process,” he said.
McConnell has not indicated whether he will vote to condemn Trump. On Tuesday he said the rioters were “provoked by the president and other powerful people.”
Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania called on Trump to step down while he was still in office. Nobody said how they would vote on the conviction.
Murkowski said in a statement earlier this month that the House responded to the attack on the Capitol “swiftly and I believe appropriately with impeachment”.
Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.
