Washington: US President Donald Trump pressed his Republican allies Thursday to exert rigid control of his Senate trial and ensure a swift exoneration, a day after he was impeached in a historic rebuke by the House of Representatives.
A bitter fight looms over the coming trial, expected to begin as early as the second week of January, with Senate leaders already drawing battle lines over the evidence that will be allowed.
But its fate was left in limbo late Thursday when the Senate’s powerful majority leader, Mitch McConnell signalled the stand-off with Democrats over trial particulars would continue into the New Year.
“We remain at an impasse on these logistics,” McConnell said on the floor, as he announced the Senate had completed its business until January.
Trump seized on the uncertainty to attack House Democrats for seeking to demand key witnesses or dictate how McConnell should run the process. “I want an immediate trial!” Trump said on Twitter.
“I got Impeached last night (Wednesday) without one Republican vote being cast with the ‘Do Nothing Dems’ on their continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history. Now the ‘Do Nothing Party’ wants to ‘Do Nothing with the Articles & not deliver them to the Senate, but it’s Senate’s call!” added the US president.
Trump, the third president in US history to be impeached, suggested that the Democrats would “lose by default” if they decided not to show up at a date determined by the Senate.
The House voted along party lines Wednesday to charge Trump with abuse of power for pressuring Ukraine’s president to investigate his potential White House challenger in 2020, the veteran Democrat Joe Biden.
The vote leaves a permanent stain on Trump’s legacy – one that he appeared determined to mask with acquittal by the Senate.
The Senate Republicans have a 53-47 majority that makes the math for clearing Trump straightforward – conviction and removal would require a two-thirds guilty vote on either charge.
The House must formally transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate for the case to be taken up there.
Minutes after Wednesday’s vote, Democrats began pushing for four current and former White House aides with direct knowledge of Trump’s Ukraine dealings to testify.
Trump blocked all four Thursday from testifying in the House, and Democrats believe their appearances at trial would bolster the case for conviction.
Lawmakers voted to send Bill Clinton to a Senate trial 72 days after the inquiry was authorised while Richard Nixon resigned 183 days into his impeachment.
Andrew Johnson’s impeachment in 1868 took less than a week, although it is generally held up as the most frivolous.
AFP