The House of Representatives can forward the impeachment document to Donald Trump, approved last week in the lower house, to the Senate this Friday, the Reuters agency said. In this way, House Democrats are fulfilling the wish of the new president, Joe Biden, who asked that Congress not take too long to close the case.
House Speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, declined to answer questions from the US media on the matter.
In a House vote last week, Republican Donald Trump became the first president in US history to suffer two impeachments. Estre second accuses him of inciting the January 6 attack on the Capitol – deadly to six people – in a failed attempt to prevent Congress from formally certifying Biden’s victory.
Democrats, who hold a majority in the House, have taken control of the Senate, but at least two-thirds of the 100-member body will have to vote in favor of Trump being convicted.
Under Senate rules, the trial begins a day after the House delivers the indictment. It was unclear, however, whether a postponement could be planned, as some Democrats suggested, to keep Biden’s agenda and appointments for his admiration to run smoothly.
Some Senate Republicans argued that Congress should not put a former president on trial and that, in doing so, the country would split again. The leader of the Republican minority in the House, Kevin McCarthy, said he thought President Trump continues to “have the ability to lead this party and unite it”.
However, Trump has already hired a lawyer to defend him from impeachment: he will be South Carolina’s Butch Bowers lawyer. Bowers represented former Republican governors in South Carolina and served in the United States Department of Justice under former President George W. Bush.
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