The Senate will take no action on the House Democrats’ effort to reinstate President Trump’s impeachment until he leaves office – making the next week’s possible vote debatable before it even begins.
According to a schedule released on Friday to Senate colleagues, majority leader Mitch McConnell said that any House resolution on the matter could not be transmitted to the upper house until January 19, based on the agency’s current calendar.
House impeachment managers could present their case – which would accuse Trump of “inciting an insurrection” on Capitol Hill on Wednesday – to the Senate meeting the same day, McConnell’s memo noted.
But, according to the existing impeachment rules, the debate and voting could not begin before 1 pm the next day – making the first possible moment for an impeachment vote in an hour after President-elect Joe Biden takes office at noon on January 20.
“The Senate trial, therefore, would begin after the end of President Trump’s term,” wrote McConnell, according to the Washington Post.
With the 50-50 Senate still in the hands of Republicans until January 20, when Kamala Harris becomes vice president and gives Democrats a majority, it would take a unanimous vote of all 100 senators to override McConnell’s calendar – a possibility remote.
A post-term impeachment trial for a former president would be a first record, as would a second impeachment trial.