After the positive vote of the House of Representatives on Wednesday December 18, the impeachment procedure will approach a more comfortable period for the President of the United States, that of the Senate. The latter will be responsible for trying Donald Trump under the authority of the President of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, whose effective role remains to be defined. Without delay, the Republican leadership of the Senate displayed its determination to exempt him. With 53 votes, none of which seems to be lacking, when it would take 67 to remove the president (the Democrats only have 45), she has the cards necessary to achieve this.
Billionaire's regular golf partner, South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, who chairs the Judicial Affairs Committee, said he would be "Partisan". Republican majority chief Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), master of procedure, has promised to coordinate "Fully with the White House lawyer". "There will be no difference between the president's position and ours in the way of handling this", he added.
Elected continuously since 1984, candidate for re-election in 2020, Mitch McConnell worked to further polarize the Senate. It is thus at the origin of a tactic of obstruction in the process of confirmation of the judges chosen by the democratic president Barack Obama, who had pushed in 2013 the leader of the democratic majority, Harry Reid, to remove the qualified majority for validate them.
"I hope it will be fair"
When he became master of the day in 2014, Mitch McConnell had definitively blocked the appointments, including that of a Supreme Court candidate, Merrick Garland, after the brutal death of a Conservative judge. This tactic made it possible, once Donald Trump was elected, to appoint more than 170 judges to vacant positions, benefiting from the lowering of the mandatory threshold then extended by Kentucky's elected official to Supreme Court appointments.
The report prevents the prospect of compromises like those obtained in the last trial of a president, the Democrat Bill Clinton, who was finally acquitted, when an overwhelming majority of public opinion opposed a dismissal. At the time, the leader of the Democratic minority, Tom Daschle (South Dakota), was pleased with an agreement on a “Fair and fast procedure” with his Republican counterpart Trent Lott (Mississippi), while Republican John McCain (Arizona) greeted a "Extraordinary moment" unanimity.
There is no hope of a comparable climate now. Mitch McConnell plans to expedite the trial as soon as possible. And despite increased powers compared to the Lower House, he has already refused requests from the leader of the Democratic minority, Chuck Schumer (New York State), to hear witnesses to whom the White House ordered fail to respond to subpoenas issued by committees of the House of Representatives.
This prospect prompted House speaker Nancy Pelosi (California) to remain elusive about the rapid transmission of the indictments. "So far we have seen nothing that we think is right (in the Senate). So I hope it will be fair. And when we see that it is, " we will pass them on, she said on Wednesday evening. "The question now is whether Senator McConnell will allow a fair trial in the Senate, for the president, but also for the American people," added Democrat Adam Schiff (California), investigator of the House investigation.
