Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is rejecting Democratic calls to bring the Senate back immediately to condemn President Trump, a decision that is likely to allow the president to fulfill his last days in office.
McConnell’s office made that clear to advisers to Senate Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday, according to Republican officials. The majority leader also sent a note to Republican senators saying that the chamber will not return until January 19, according to a person who saw it, meaning that an impeachment trial will not begin until the early days of Joe Biden’s presidency. .
In a statement released after the House voted for impeachment, McConnell said:
“Given the Senate rules, procedures and precedents that govern presidential impeachment trials, there is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could be concluded before President-elect Biden’s oath next week.”
The House’s impeachment vote on Wednesday over Trump’s incitement to the Capitol riot last week presents itself as a quick, two-party conviction that makes Trump the first president in U.S. history to be charged twice.
McConnell has privately indicated that he believes Trump’s impeachment would be the way to free him from the party, a dramatic break between the top Republican who has worked closely with the Republican president for the past four years.
In the note to his Republican colleagues on Wednesday afternoon about the impeachment, he wrote that “although the press is full of speculation, I have not made a final decision on how I will vote and I intend to hear the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate. “