Each side would be given two days to lay out their case in President Trump's impeachment trial under rules proposed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Democrats object to the condensed calendar.
A copy of a Senate draft resolution to be offered by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., regarding the procedures during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in the U.S. Senate is photographed in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2020. McConnell is proposing a condensed, two-day calendar for opening arguments in Trump's impeachment trial, ground rules that are raising objections from Democrats on the eve of the landmark proceedings.
The brief from the White House, and the House Democratic response, comes as the Senate could be facing 12-hour sessions for the rare Senate trial, with some of the very senators running to replace Trump as president sitting as jurors. Senators are poised for only the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history, coming just weeks before the first primaries of the 2020 election season and as voters are assessing Trump’s first term and weighing the candidates who want to challenge him in the fall.
“It’s clear Sen. McConnell is hell-bent on making it much more difficult to get witnesses and documents and intent on rushing the trial through,” Schumer said. He vowed to propose votes Tuesday to try to amend the rules package. He called it a “cover-up.” After the four days of opening arguments — two days per side — senators will be allowed up to 16 hours for questions to the prosecution and defense, followed by four hours of debate. Only then will there be votes on calling other witnesses.McConnell had promised to set rules similar to the last trial, of President Bill Clinton in 1999, but his resolution diverged in key ways, which may leave some senators from both parties uneasy.
The House Democrats said the president can’t have it both ways -- rejecting the facts of the House case but also stonewalling congressional subpoenas for witnesses and testimony. “Senators must honor their own oaths by holding a fair trial with all relevant evidence,” they wrote.
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