Senate Republicans mull speeding up Trump’s impeachment trial

Senate Republicans have discussed increasing the pace of US President Donald Trump's impeachment trial by using the trial rules to decrease the number of days each side has to make opening arguments.

Republicans are planning to give both Trump's legal team and House managers 24 hours to present their case, similar to the 1999 trial of then President Bill Clinton, The Hill reported on Friday quoting GOP senators. Each side would have to complete their arguments within two days.

"We're going to give both sides a full and fair opportunity to present their case. ... Phase one is going to be the opening arguments from the House managers and from the White House. Each will have 24 hours spread out over two days to present the arguments they want," Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told Fox News on Friday.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the House managers appointed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would get a "couple of days" to present their initial case, while Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) acknowledged that the idea was under discussion.   

“I'll be interested to see whether or not that gets elongated over a few days, but I think the going in posture is two, 12 hour periods," he said.

 Some Republican senators have expressed their plan to get the impeachment trial over before the February 4 State of the Union address.

The Democratic-led House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to send formal impeachment charges to the Senate, a move that launched the trial in the upper chamber.

Lawmakers voted 228 to 193 to give the Senate the task of putting Trump on trial on charges of abuse of power for pressuring Ukraine for personal political gain and of obstruction of Congress for blocking testimony and documents sought by Democratic lawmakers, Reuters reported.

Pelosi names Trump nemesis Schiff 'lead' impeachment manager

The US House sets the stage for next week’s trial of President Trump in the Senate as it names leading Democrats to prosecute the impeachment case.

The vote was largely along party lines, but Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) was the only Democrat who voted against the impeachment articles, while Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.), who switched from Republican to Independent last year, voted in favor of the resolution.

The vote also approved a team of seven impeachment managers who will prosecute the case against Trump in the Senate.

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.

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.

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