The U.S. House appears all but certain this week to pass at least one impeachment article against President Trump, but the Democratic leadership may not send it to the Senate right away.
At least one top Democrat suggested the House could sit on the impeachment article for several months, clearing the deck for incoming President Joe Biden and a new Democratic majority in the Senate and their top agenda priorities, which include additional coronavirus recovery aid. And a key Senate Democrat said Monday that he agreed.
Sen. Joe Manchin, an influential West Virginia Democratic centrist, told Fox News’s Special Report there is “no rush” to bring up impeachment now and have it tie up the Congress in the early days of a new Biden administration. It would be “ill-advised,” he said.
Majority Whip James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, said Sunday the House could indeed wait.
“Let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running. And maybe we will send the articles sometime after that,” Clyburn told CNN on Sunday, describing the options under consideration.
Clyburn, on CNN, said Pelosi will decide the timing on sending over the articles, but many Democrats in her caucus are imploring her not to wait.
Democrats plan to bring up at least one impeachment article, authored by a group of House Judiciary Democrats that charge Trump with inciting an insurrection over the Wednesday attack on the Capitol by throngs of his supporters following his claim the election was stolen.
The impeachment article has the backing of 218 Democrats, enough to pass it with a simple majority. Several Republicans are also likely to vote for it.
Some top Democrats say the House should send the article to the Senate immediately — a move that would pressure outgoing Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to consider them before Trump leaves office and perhaps becomes ineligible for conviction.
“Once we pass it, they should take up immediately,” Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat, told reporters in the Capitol Monday. “This is urgent. This president represents a real danger to our democracy. Obviously, I’m not in control of the Senate, but they ought to come back immediately and respond to the urgent circumstances we’re confronting.”
Pelosi, a California Democrat, has signaled she sees an urgency to the matter, calling Trump “unhinged,” “dangerous,” and perhaps even a threat to national security and safety in his final days in office.
It’s unlikely, however, that Trump can be convicted on the impeachment article even if the House sends it over this week.
Not only is the Senate likely lacking the two-thirds support needed to convict and remove Trump, it’s not scheduled to be back in session until Jan. 19. Under Senate rules, the article would not come up for consideration until Jan. 20 at 1 p.m., an hour after Trump leaves office.
Trump’s term ends at noon that day, and the Constitution does not address convicting an ex-president of impeachment charges. Lawmakers would be entering legally murky territory, even if they proceeded at the first opportunity after reconvening next week.
Democrats have called on McConnell to reconvene the Senate, but it’s not up to him. Under an order approved by the Senate last week, every senator must agree to reconvene. Just one objection from any senator would block it.
Manchin, on Special Report, said Senate Democrats “are trying to send the message over” to House Democrats that taking up the impeachment article in the Senate is futile due to timing and the need for 19 Republicans to vote for conviction.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, seemed unfazed by the hurdle.
When asked Monday if the House would send the article over to the Senate immediately, he responded: “Yes.”
