Senate battle brewing over Trump impeachment trial rules: Democrats want witnesses

House Democrats are expected to impeach President Donald Trump on Wednesday. Senate Republicans have the power to dictate the Senate trial rules.

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The front of the White House.

The front of the White House.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

WASHINGTON — House Democrats will impeach President Donald Trump this week — likely Wednesday. Trump will vault to a Senate trial in January with a battle erupting Sunday night over whether Democrats will be able to call witnesses.

There is no chance Trump will be convicted and removed from office as a result of a Senate trial because two-thirds, or 67 votes are required. There are 53 Senate Republicans.

On Sunday, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the top Senate Democrat, said they want to subpoena as witnesses Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff, and John Bolton, former National Security Advisor, among others. Trump blocked them from appearing at House impeachment hearings and stonewalled on turning over documents, which Senate Democrats also want for the trial.

The Democrats want the trial — really a quasi-judicial proceeding since senators set their own rules — to open in the Senate on Jan. 9, 2020.

Even with the outcome all but guaranteed, there is a choppy, acrimonious road ahead. The GOP-controlled Senate has the power to dictate all the trial rules — and it just takes a majority vote to set the rules.

The number two Senate Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin D-Ill., a guest on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” said Sunday, “Well, I can tell you that it isn’t just the president who’s on trial in an impeachment proceeding. The Senate is on trial. And we have a constitutional responsibility.”

In the House, the Republicans howled that the Democrats were unfair; expect the roles to be reversed in the Senate with the Democrats crying foul.

When Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial landed in the Senate in 1999, Democrats — including Durbin — wanted the two articles of impeachment the House sent over to be dismissed.

In 2020, Democrats have a different perspective.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is working with the Trump White House on trial rules.

“We all know how it’s going to end,” McConnell said on Fox News “Hannity” last week. “There is no chance the president is going to be removed from office.” “We have no choice but to take it up. But we’ll be working through this process hopefully in a fairly short period of time, in total coordination with the White House counsel’s office and the people who are representing the president, in the way all of the Senate.”

Total coordination means that Trump will decide whether he sees his trial as a “show,” to unfold for weeks, or as a stain on his legacy that should be gotten over with as soon as possible so he can move on.

Durbin on “Face the Nation” said, “I hear people like Senator McConnell talking about the fact that he sat down with the folks at the White House. He’s already made his decision even before he’s taken his oath to promise impartial justice. He sees no need for us to spend a lot of time. My friend Senator Lindsey Graham refers to the whole thing as a crock.

“You know, what it boils down to is we may interfere with some tee times here, but we ought to really stand up for the demeanor, the history and the traditions of the Senate in terms of doing this in the proper way.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on “Face the Nation” he doesn’t want to hear from witnesses. “I want to make my decision based on the trial record established in the House as a basis for impeachment.” In an earlier interview, he said his mind is made up.

Trump is charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress over his pressuring the Ukraine president for his political gain. Speaker Nancy Pelosi will pick his prosecutors, called House Managers.

Clinton was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice stemming from his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

The Senate procedures for the Clinton trial were negotiated between the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and ex-Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas. Clinton’s 1999 impeachment trial lasted five weeks. Clinton delivered his 1999 State of the Union address while his impeachment trial was taking place.

FOOTNOTE: After the House Judiciary Committee voted Friday to send the two articles of impeachment to the House floor, Pelosi departed with a congressional delegation to Belgium to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.

The presidential delegation to the observance included Chicago’s Ron Gidwitz, the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. Pelosi included Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill.

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