Message from President Biden to Senate Democratic leaders about former President Trump
Donald Trump Palm Beach Revises Trump’s Residence at Mar-a-Lago Immigration Reform Can’t Wait On The Money: Five Questions About the GameStop Controversy | Biden, Yellen Call For Swift Action For New Help MOREThe impending impeachment procedure is clear: keep it short and don’t let it derail its agenda.
Biden has never embraced Trump’s second charge, though he has also not tried to stand in the way of him amid outrage in his party over the former president’s involvement in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Still, he and his team have been aware of the risks of litigation so early in his tenure as he tries to negotiate a deal for a $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.
It is also now more evident that it has been two weeks since the impeachment will not end with Trump’s conviction.
This was in question early on, but a Senate vote this week, in which only five Republicans voted against filing a motion calling the process unconstitutional, kept the Senate from winning the two-thirds of the votes needed. are for conviction.
Biden government officials and allies close to the White House say the president will distance himself from Trump’s trial as it begins in the second week of February.
“He is letting the Senate do what it should do,” said an ally of Biden close to the White House. “We always knew this was going to happen. We’ve always known that this would be the position we are in with Republicans right now. And now he’s going to respect the process and let it play. “
The impeachment trial poses some risks to Biden, and some Democrats had warned it could torpedo his early agenda.
The best thing for Biden, now that a conviction for Trump appears to be off the table, is that the trial begins and ends so that the Senate can quickly return to more full-time work on legislation and confirming Biden nominees.
“He has come to the White House with a strong message of unity and the last thing he wants is for the impeachment trial to define the early days of his presidency,” said an ally.
Sources say Biden and his advisers have been in frequent contact with Democratic leaders in Congress, and some members of Biden’s inner circle have thrown their support behind impeachment.
After January 6 at the Capitol, Cedric Richmond
Cedric Richmond White House Goes Full Throttle On COVID-19 Aid Talks An Attack On America With A Divided Congress – And A Pelosi Nation To Turn Iowa Republican As The Democratic Challenger Contests Election Results MORE, who resigned from Congress to become a senior Biden adviser, expressed immediate support for impeachment, according to a source familiar with the internal talks on Biden’s team.
But several prominent Democrats in both houses expressed concerns early on in the process about a senate impeachment lawsuit that delayed Biden’s agenda. They predicted that only a few Republican senators would ultimately vote to condemn Trump.
“We know the outcome before it starts and that is frustrating for everyone,” said a Democratic assistant to the Senate after this week’s vote on the Sen-sponsored motion. Rand Paul
Randal (Rand) Howard Paul The Seventeenth Amendment and Donald Trump’s disapproval Where is Barry Goldwater’s Republican Party when we need it? Paul says Roberts’ absence is more of a “crystallized” argument against Trump (R-Ky.).
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (DS.C.), a key Biden ally whose approval was pivotal in the 2020 election, advocated waiting after Biden’s first 100 days before sending an article of impeachment to the Senate.
Across the street from the Capitol, Sens. Tim Kaine
Timothy (Tim) Michael Kaine How McConnell derailed Trump’s impeachment process before the next week began Kaine eyes to file disapproval with the aim of banning Trump from future office The Hill’s Morning Report – Dems Question Trial; January will be MORE deadliest pandemic month (D-Va.) And Chris Murphy
Christopher (Chris) Scott Murphy How McConnell Derailed Trump’s Impeachment Trial Before It Began Schumer Promises to Continue Trial Despite Trump’s Setback The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden: Focus on Vaccine, Virus, Travel MORE (D-Conn.) Privately expressed concern that confirming Biden’s cabinet nominees and moving a COVID-19 aid package should be top priorities.
Murphy said, “My point wasn’t necessarily not to hold a trial, but it took us a few weeks to get the cabinet in place and get COVID. [relief] moving.”
Kaine said Friday that he raised concerns about “the likely outcome” of a lawsuit.
“I felt as outrageous as the behavior was and no matter how accountable it takes, I just didn’t see a way for Republicans to get up to 17 votes to condemn,” he said. “I thought about it as soon as the House started it.
He said, “The urgent need is COVID relief and I know Chuck feels the same way,” he added, referring to the Senate leader Charles Schumer
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Her. Joe Manchin
Joseph (Joe) Manchin Joe Manchin Could Show Senate a Better Way Forward Democrats Ready to Bypass Republicans Over COVID-19 Emergency Law On The Money: Economy Shrinked 3.5 Percent In 2020 | Lawmakers are ripping Robinhood’s decision on GameStop | Budget rules, politics threatens hourly minimum wage MORE (DW.Va.) said on Jan. 10 that imposing impeachment when Trump is no longer in office “makes no sense at all.”
Biden never publicly said anything critical of the process.
Earlier this week, he even told CNN he thought “it must be done.”
Immediately after the riot, Biden indicated that the decision was for lawmakers.
“What Congress decides to do is they decide,” Biden said on Jan. 8.
He said he understood the impact impeachment could have on his upcoming legislative agenda, but warned there could be “a worse effect if it didn’t happen.”
Kaine over the past week discussed with colleagues what he calls a condemnation resolution that could later activate the ban on the 14th Amendment for anyone engaged in insurrection or rebellion to hold office.
He said the goal is to establish facts about Trump inciting insurrection and providing aid and comfort to enemies of the United States.
Kaine said he had his proposal with Sen. Chris Coons
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Democrats now realize that publicly questioning the point of a trial will only give Republicans political ammunition and dutifully prepare to go through a second impeachment trial in just over a year, even though the outcome is predetermined.
“This is a process where if the House does it and sends out the papers, [in] the Senate our hands are tied, ”said Kaine.
He added that his Democratic colleagues “want to see how the trial goes” before adopting his resolution of sentencing.