The timing of the impeachment trial of Trump’s former Senate after the House accused him of a single article last week is still uncertain. When that happens, the trial will paralyze the Senate’s business, while the Senate is still struggling to reach a power-sharing agreement to govern a 50-50 Senate. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell are expected to discuss trial logistics on Thursday, several sources told CNN.
Another factor that complicates the timing of the trial: the question of who will represent Trump remains unanswered.
Pelosi told a news conference on Thursday that the House was “ready” to start the trial, but would wait until the Senate was prepared before formally transmitting the impeachment article, the step that would trigger the start of the trial the next day.
“They have now informed us that they are ready to receive, the question is other questions about how the trial will proceed, but we are ready,” said Pelosi of the Senate.
House Democrats are in discussions to send the impeachment article to the Senate as early as Friday, two sources said, but a complicating factor remains the fact that Trump does not yet have a lawyer to represent him in a Senate trial. .
“The articles can be published on Friday,” a source told CNN.
There are also discussions on how to ensure that a trial can take place quickly and not overwhelm President Joe Biden’s agenda, but ultimately, no time has been set. The lack of Trump’s lawyers underscores the chaos the former president is still injecting into the Capitol, even after he left Washington on Wednesday, before Biden’s inauguration.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and an ally of the former President, suggested in a conference call with Senate Republicans on Thursday that South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers will represent Trump in his impeachment trial, according to with a person on the call. CNN contacted Bowers for comment.
Graham previously told reporters that Trump would put his legal team on the scene “very soon,” with “people who are competent and well-versed in things like that, around situations like this.”
“I would focus on the unconstitutional argument,” said Graham. “They didn’t present any evidence in the House, so I don’t know if you can present evidence in the Senate that you didn’t – I think you could – but we will make our own decisions about the president that went too far, that was an incitement within the law, what is the right result on that? So it must be a quick trial, frankly. “
Republicans urged Democrats to abandon Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate, arguing that it is unconstitutional and that it directly undermines Biden’s message of unity in office in the early days of his presidency.
Pelosi rejected those calls on Thursday.
“No, I’m not worried about that,” she said. “The fact is that the President of the United States committed an act of inciting insurrection. I don’t think it’s very unifying to say, oh, let’s forget about it and move on. That’s not how you unify … You don’t tell one president ‘Do what you want in the last months of your government, you will get a card to get out of prison for free’. “
Democratic Senate leaders say they do not know when the trial will begin, although Schumer has promised that there will be a vote on Trump’s conviction on the House’s charge of “inciting insurrection”.
“Leader McConnell and I are trying to reach a bipartisan agreement on how to conduct the trial,” said Schumer on Thursday. “But make no mistake. There will be a trial, there will be a vote up or down to condemn the president. I believe he should be convicted. And we will have to wait and see when she will send the articles to find out how to do all of this.”
Asked when the articles could be submitted, Democratic Senator Whip Dick Durbin said it had yet to be resolved.
“Whether or not it is a full trial with evidence and witnesses, or ‘accelerated’ – whatever that means – the final decision does not even come close,” added Durbin.
During Trump’s impeachment trial in 2020, House impeachment managers focused much of their case on the need to have witnesses at the trial to corroborate their accusations that Trump sought Ukraine’s help to undermine Biden before the 2020 campaign. That pressure ended up failing, as Republicans voted against hearing witnesses before Trump was acquitted.
This time around, Democrats are eyeing a quick trial, given the fact that the Senate is likely to be paralyzed while the trial is underway – meaning that those nominated for the Biden Office would take a long time to be confirmed.
Democrats have not yet said whether they will seek witnesses for this trial, but Pelosi hinted on Thursday that it may not be necessary, saying the decision will rest with administrators.
“I see a big difference between something that we all witness versus information you may need to prove an impeachment article based largely on a call the president made and described as perfect,” said Pelosi. “This year, the whole world has witnessed the incitement of the President, the execution of his appeal and the violence that has been used.”
Impeachment managers in the House are meeting and preparing to present their case to the Senate, and Democrats remain hopeful that they can convince 17 Republicans to condemn Trump, especially considering the fact that McConnell has indicated that he is keeping an open mind and will listen. the argument.
A faction of Senate Republicans, however, is warning McConnell that his support will quickly wane at the Senate Republican conference if he votes on Trump’s sentencing.
This story and headline were updated with additional developments Thursday.
CNN’s Kristin Wilson, Daniella Diaz, Annie Grayer and Clare Foran contributed to this report.