As the U.S. House marches toward impeachment, Senate questions next move
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[December 11, 2019]
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the U.S. House of
Representatives moves closer to impeaching President Donald Trump,
larger questions loom in the Senate, where Trump's Republican allies may
not give him the extended trial he would like.
Democrats who control the House unveiled formal charges on Tuesday that
accuse Trump of abusing his power by trying to force Ukraine to
investigate a political rival and obstructing Congress when lawmakers
tried to look into the matter.
The House Judiciary Committee is due to begin considering those charges
at 7 p.m. on Wednesday (0000 GMT) and is expected to approve them on
Thursday. A vote by the full chamber next week is likely to make Trump
the third U.S. president to be impeached by the House.
Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler said Democrats had to take action
because Trump had endangered the U.S. Constitution, jeopardized national
security and undermined the integrity of the 2020 election.
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The impeachment articles do not draw on other contentious aspects of the
Republican president's tenure, such as his efforts to impede former
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe. Democratic lawmakers who
represent more conservative districts have argued that the focus should
stay on Ukraine.
"I think you'll see virtually all the Democrats support these articles,"
said Representative David Cicilline, who chairs a House Judiciary
subcommittee.
Republicans say Democrats have yet to prove that Trump tried to pressure
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic
presidential candidate Joe Biden in a July telephone call.
"It's just as likely the president had good reasons to say what he did
on the phone call as nefarious reasons that the Democrats think,"
Republican Representative Debbie Lesko said.
Trump has maintained that he did nothing wrong and that Democrats are
trying to undo his victory in the 2016 election.
He will be on friendlier terrain in the Republican-controlled Senate,
which will likely consider the matter in January in a trial presided
over by U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts.
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![](../images/121119pics/news_L19.jpg)
President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a campaign rally at
the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, U.S., December 10, 2019.
REUTERS/Tom Brenner
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QUICK TRIAL?
Democrats are not expected to pick up the 20 Republican votes they
need at a minimum in that chamber to drive Trump from office. But
Republicans have yet to decide how to handle the matter.
Trump has called for a full trial, featuring testimony from
witnesses, including Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others,
that would flesh out the case for and against impeachment and eat up
weeks of time shortly before the first Democratic presidential
nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested on Tuesday that
his chamber may opt for a quicker trial that would allow lawmakers
to return to their regular business.
McConnell will need a majority of the Senate's 100 members to agree
to either plan. That could put a handful of Republican moderates,
like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, in the position of deciding
how much time the chamber would devote to the prospect of removing
Trump from office.
During Democratic President Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial,
no witnesses testified on the Senate floor. Instead, videotaped
depositions were done with just a few witnesses, which senators
could screen privately. Clinton was acquitted in the Senate on
charges arising from his sexual relationship with a White House
intern.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Additional reporting by David Morgan
and Susan Cornwell; Additional reporting by David Morgan and Susan
Cornwell; Editing by Peter Henderson and Peter Cooney)
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