GOP Senators Vow To Rapidly End Any Possible Impeachment Trials

GOP senators have spoken up recently to make clear their intention to end any possible presidential impeachment trials as rapidly as possible. While the Senate is required to hold a trial if the House successfully votes to indict the President, the Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has the power to organize the trial as he pleases. According to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), the proceedings would probably be “disposed of very quickly.”

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In addition to organizational power, the Republican majority would have the power to rule on the presentation of any potential evidence, ensuring that the Democrats wouldn’t even be able to use testimony as a way of publicly attacking the president. In order to present any evidence that McConnell blocks, the Democrats would have to convince four Republican senators to vote with them in order to reverse the 53-47 majority that the GOP currently holds.

With fewer than 40% of American citizens supporting impeaching the president, the claims of these leading Republicans make it even less likely that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) will proceed with a vote of impeachment. Pelosi has been hesitant in the past to proceed with the forced removal of the president, fearing that any attempt to eject President Donald Trump from office could grievously harm the Democrats’ public image.

While Pelosi is skilled at maintaining the loyalty of her own representatives, many Democratic House members have been clamoring for the Speaker to initiate charges against the president. Several representatives on the more liberal side of the political spectrum have been claiming that not impeaching Trump is an attack on democracy, and Democrats such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) have been pressuring Pelosi to start impeachment trials, regardless of the potential effects such an action would have on the Democrats.