Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that impeachment proceedings will likely last into 2020 should the House impeach President Trump.
McConnell made the prediction while speaking to reporters in Kentucky on Monday. The GOP leader also said that he “can’t imagine a scenario under which President Trump would be removed from office with 67 votes in the Senate.”
“It looks to me like the House is going to be on this until Christmas, then it comes over to the Senate. It displaces all other business,” McConnell said. “I don’t know how long senators will want to continue the trial, but I’m pretty confident that in the end impeachment will not lead to ouster.”
[Related: Nancy Pelosi: ‘Dangerous’ to let election determine Trump’s fate]
McConnell’s comments echo those he gave to journalists several weeks ago concerning impeachment.
“I will say I’m pretty sure how it’s likely to end. If it were today, I don’t think there’s any question it would not lead to a removal,” McConnell said on Nov. 5.
If impeached in the House, Trump must stand trial in the Senate. The trial could drag on for weeks or months into 2020 and pose a serious problem for several Democratic senators that are currently campaigning to challenge Trump for office.
The first-in-the-country Iowa caucuses are scheduled for Feb. 3, a tight deadline for Democratic Sens. Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren if an impeachment trial requires they stay in Washington, D.C., at the beginning of the year.
