President Biden publicly affirmed his belief that former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is vital.
Biden, who also said he doesn’t believe Democrats have the votes to convict the former president, made the remarks the same night the House impeachment managers delivered to the Senate an article charging Trump with inciting an insurrection in connection to the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“I think it has to happen,” he told CNN on Monday. Biden acknowledged that the timeline could hamper the first days of his administration but added that not holding it would have “a worse effect if it didn’t happen.”
The president also suggested that if Trump was still in office, more lawmakers would support removing him from power. It takes 67 senators to vote to convict, and they also could prevent him from ever holding public office again.
“The Senate has changed since I was there, but it hasn’t changed that much,” Biden said.
Biden and the White House have previously been tight-lipped about where they stand on the impeachment trial. On the day where 10 House Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach Trump a historic second time, Biden said, “I hope that the Senate leadership will find a way to deal with their constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation.”
The Senate trial will begin on Feb. 8, and Democrats have appointed Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and the Senate’s president pro tempore, to adjudicate the trial instead of Chief Justice John Roberts.
A cast of House impeachment managers will prosecute the case, including some of Trump’s staunchest political foes, such as Reps. Eric Swalwell and Ted Lieu, both California Democrats, David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat, and they are headed by Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat.
Trump previously was impeached in December 2019 on two Ukraine-related articles of impeachment but was acquitted by the GOP-controlled Senate.
