White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that President Biden “will not waste much time” watching former President Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate, saying he will leave “the pace, the process and the mechanics “of Senate procedures.
Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial is scheduled to begin on Tuesday after the House on January 13 voted for the second time for impeachment – this time on charges of inciting an insurrection before and during the Capitol rebellion in January 6.
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Biden and the White House have been pressured repeatedly for comments about the impeachment, but Psaki, during the press conference at the White House on Monday, said the president will be “very busy” and has a “busy schedule this week”.
“He will not spend much time following the proceedings at any point during this week’s course,” said Psaki, adding that the president has been and will continue to be “in close contact” with the mayor, Nancy Pelosi, the majority leader. in the Senate Chuck Schumer and “a number of Hill officials”.
“He will leave the pace, process and mechanics of the impeachment process to members of Congress,” said Psaki.
Psaki was pressured by several reporters to go further when commenting on the impeachment – even after Biden himself was asked on Monday morning whether Trump should lose his political rights.
“Oh, I don’t – look, he got an offer to come and testify, he decided not to,” said Biden on Monday morning. “Let the Senate take care of that. Thank you.”
Psaki said Biden “is no longer in the Senate” and “will leave it to his former Senate colleagues and members of Congress to determine the way forward”.
Meanwhile, Psaki was asked whether Biden thought Trump should be eligible to receive intelligence instructions – after Biden told CBS that he saw “no need” for them. Psaki said he was not “aware” of any requests from Trump to receive an intelligence briefing, but said Biden would leave that decision to intelligence officials.
Psaki said, however, that Biden feels that Trump’s behavior is “erratic”.
“He ran against him because he felt inadequate for the job and defeated him, which is why President Trump is no longer president of the United States,” said Psaki. “I think your views on President Trump are quite clear.”
Trump’s impeachment trial is scheduled to begin on Tuesday. It is not clear, at this point, how long it will last.
Impeachment manager Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Last week asked Trump to testify before or during the impeachment trial.
“The president will not testify in an unconstitutional process,” Trump’s senior adviser Jason Miller told Fox News last week.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Have yet to announce an agreement on how the trial hearings themselves will work. The only thing currently known is that the case will take place at 1 pm on Tuesday and that Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Will oversee the proceedings.
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What is not known is how long the trial will last, whether there will be witnesses, how the trial will be structured as it is happening, and whether the Senate will split its time between dealing with legislation and nominations and carrying out the trial, or if it will only take care of the trial processes.
A possible agreement for a test framework is being brought up to the senators to see if they agree with this. The trial would begin with a four-hour debate on whether the trial is constitutional and then a vote on whether to proceed. There could also be a debate and a vote on whether impeachment managers can call witnesses, which would be subject to a simple majority limit.
And the test structure would change from six days a week off on Sundays to six days a week off on Saturdays. Trump’s lawyer, David Schoen, observes the Jewish Sabbath, so he requested that the trial stop at 5 pm on Friday and restart on Sunday.
Also taking place on Monday, the House’s impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team will present a second round of summaries to the Senate, as part of a pre-trial agreement between McConnell and Schumer. These summaries should provide an additional window on how each side will present its argument after submitting a round of abstracts last week.