The U.S. House of Representatives today sent a provision of impeachment to the Senate, accusing Trump of inciting his supporters to break into Congress and launch the first impeachment trial against a former president. President Joe Biden said he did not think the Senate could get enough votes to convict Trump.
AFP reported that nine House impeachment managers sent articles of impeachment to the federal Senate. Trump, who has left office, still has the support of many Republican U.S. senators in the Senate.
The 74-year-old Trump was impeached by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives on Jan. 13, the first Time in U.S. history that a president has been impeached for a second time, and the Senate will begin hearings the week of Feb. 8.
CNN reported that President Joe Biden said in an interview today that he did not think the Senate could get enough votes to convict former President Trump in an impeachment trial.
Biden said he did not believe 17 Republican senators would agree to convict Trump. If all 50 Democratic senators vote, 17 Republican senators must still support Trump to convict him.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the 100 senators serving on the jury will be sworn in tomorrow and issued subpoenas to former President Trump.
Trump’s last Senate impeachment trial was presided over by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who was eventually acquitted, but this time the Senate president pro tempore will preside.
The President Pro Tempore of the Senate is the senior member of the Senate majority, this time by Patrick Leahy, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1974 and is now 80 years old.
Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said it would be a conflict of interest for a senator to serve as a judge and juror, but fellow U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) did not see that as a problem.
I’ve known Leahy for a long time,” Graham said. I believe, and I hope, he will be fair.
Leahy said he will take an oath to remain impartial. In a statement, he said, “When the Senate conducts an impeachment trial of a non-presidential person, it has always been presided over by the president pro tempore. When presiding over an impeachment trial, the president pro tempore takes an extra special oath to promise to conduct the trial impartially and in accordance with the Constitution and the law. I view this oath with particular gravity.
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