McConnell announces Trump's impeachment trial to start next Tuesday

The US House of Representatives will vote on Wednesday to send formal impeachment charges against President Donald Trump to the Senate as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the upper house of Congress has announced the impeachment trial will begin next Tuesday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a party meeting on Tuesday that she would also name the prosecutors — also known as impeachment managers — in the Senate trial, Democratic congressman Henry Cuellar said.

“The American people deserve the truth, and the Constitution demands a trial," Pelosi said in a statement confirming the Wednesday vote to send the articles of impeachment and name the impeachment managers. “The President and the Senators will be held accountable.”

Last month, Trump became only the third American president to be impeached after the House approved charges that he abused his power by pressuring Ukraine for personal political gain.

The majority of the lawmakers supported both articles of impeachment, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The abuse of power article was passed on a 230-197 vote and the obstruction article was passed by 229-198.

But Pelosi has delayed sending the articles to the Senate in an attempt to get that McConnell to agree to include new witness testimony that could be damaging to Trump. But she failed achieve her goal.

Pelosi said on Sunday that Trump is “impeached for life” regardless of “any gamesmanship” by McConnell.

She defended her decision to temporarily delay the Senate’s impeachment trial of the president and accused McConnell of orchestrating a “coverup” of Trump’s actions.

“What we think we accomplished in the past few weeks is that we wanted the public to see the need for witnesses,” Pelosi said.

“Now the ball is in their court to either do that or pay the price,” noted Pelosi, who said on Friday that she would send the articles of impeachment against Trump over to the Senate next week.

Pelosi censured McConnell for signaling that he is not interested in fully considering the House’s charges in the Senate that will almost certainly result in Trump's acquittal.

A two-thirds majority vote would be needed in the Senate to remove the president from office. With Republicans in control of the upper chamber, Trump’s acquittal in a trial seems certain.

Pelosi says Trump ‘impeached for life’ despite McConnell’s ‘gamesmanship’

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that Trump is “impeached for life” regardless of “any gamesmanship” by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

House Democrats launched the inquiry against Trump in September after an unknown whistleblower alleged the Republican president pressured his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who had served as a director for Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

Democrats are looking into whether Trump abused his power by withholding $391 million in US security aid to Ukraine in exchange for the investigation.

Trump has repeatedly denounced the impeachment inquiry against him as “a hoax.”

Trump trial to begin next Tuesday: Senate chief

McConnell said Tuesday that the Senate impeachment trial of Trump is likely to begin in one week's time. 

He said he expected the House to send the articles of impeachment through to the upper chamber on Wednesday.

"We believe that if that happens -- in all likelihood -- we'll go through preliminary steps here this week which could well include the chief justice coming over and swearing in members of the Senate and some other kind of housekeeping measures," McConnnell told reporters.

"We hope to achieve that by consent which would set us up to begin the actual trial next Tuesday," added McConnell, who is a member of the president's Republican party.

"There's little or no sentiment for a motion to dismiss. We have an obligation to listen to the arguments," he stated.

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