U.S. Supreme Court President John Roberts is not interested in presiding over another Senate impeachment trial against former President Trump, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in an interview late on Monday.
There were rumors that Roberts would withdraw before the Senate trial, which would make room for Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., To preside. A Senate source told Fox News that the agency’s pro tempore president chairs cases where the individual impeachment is no longer the president of the United States.
Schumer told MSNBC that the decision was up to Roberts.
“The constitution says that the president of the court presides over an incumbent president. Therefore, it was up to John Roberts if he wanted to preside with a president who is no longer sitting, Trump, and does not want to do that,” said Schumer.
House Democrats handed the impeachment case against Trump to the Senate on Monday night for the start of his historic trial, but Republican senators were easing their criticism of the former president and avoiding appeals to condemn him for the deadly siege on US Capitol.
President Joe Biden dealt a blow to Senate Democrats when he said in an interview that it looks like they won’t be able to convict Trump for allegedly inciting a crowd before a Capitol riot.
Biden told CNN that he does not believe that Senate Democrats will get 17 Republicans to vote to condemn the former president. He said his opinion might have been different if Trump remained in office for a few more months.
“The Senate has changed since I was there, but it hasn’t changed much,” said Biden. Biden, however, said he agreed with Democrats that the trial “has to happen”.
Fox News’ Tyler Olson and the Associated Press contributed to this report