Articles of impeachment for former President, Donald Trump, will be sent to the Senate on Monday, meaning that a trial could be scheduled in the coming weeks and months.
Although already out of office, the Senate could still convict the former president, resulting in a number of privileges being taken away from him.
If convicted, Trump would be prevented from running again – previously indicating he would like to run in 2024 – whilst his presidential pension would also be removed.
Speaking on the floor of the Senate, the new Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer said that his House colleague, Nancy Pelosi would send the articles of impeachment on Monday;
“Make no mistake: a trial will be held in the United States Senate, and there will be a vote on whether to convict.”
“It will be a full trial; it will be a fair trial.”
The former majority leader of the Senate and now Republican minority leader, Mitch McConnell, said that the articles should be sent over on the 28th January, with two weeks given to both the prosecution and defence to prepare for the trial, before a full trial in February.
It is still unclear whether this will be the plan, but it is now certain that there will be a trial – the first president in history to face two impeachment trials.
Trump was impeached in the House last week for “incitement of insurrection”; the second impeachment of his presidency, after the House had previously impeached in 2019 on two articles related to obstruction of justice, with the Senate voting to acquit the president.
Whether the Senate will convict on this occasion remains to be seen. The House impeachment drew some partisan support with a number of Republicans joining a unified Democratic block to impeach Trump. The Senate may provide a tougher test, many Republican’s may be more willing to convict following the insurrection that put their own safety at risk, although a number of potential candidates for 2024 – such as Ted Cruz – seem unlikely to against the former President, instead hoping to curry favour with his base in an attempt to succeed him.
A two-thirds supermajority is needed to convict, which would mean that 17 or more Republicans would need to join with what is expected to be a united Democratic Party in order to convict.
Senator Mitt Romney is likely to vote against the former President, but it is Mitch McConnell whose decision will matter, potentially swinging swaths of Republicans to convict the ousted Donald Trump.
