Trump impeachment charges may go to Senate this week
12 January, 2020
The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives will send formal impeachment charges against U.S. President Donald Trump to the Senate as early as this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday, setting the stage for his long-awaited trial.
Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House, has been engaged in a three-week cat-and-mouse game with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over the rules for Trump’s trial in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Democrats have demanded it include new witness testimony and evidence about the Republican president’s pressuring of Ukraine to probe former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, a leading Democrat running for the right to face Trump in the November election.
McConnell slammed the door on that idea last week, saying he had enough Republican votes to start the trial without a commitment to hear from additional witnesses, including former Trump national security adviser John Bolton.
Democrats are trying to convince a few moderate Republican senators to allow witnesses. One moderate, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, told reporters in her home state that she and a “fairly small group” of her fellow Republican senators are working to ensure witnesses can be called.
The Senate is expected to acquit Trump before the 2020 presidential election campaign heats up, as no Republicans have voiced support for ousting him, a step that would require a two-thirds majority.
In a letter to House Democratic lawmakers on Friday, Pelosi said a resolution could be brought up this week to appoint House “managers” to prosecute the case against Trump at the trial and to transmit the impeachment charges to the Senate.
Source: the-japan-news.com
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