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In reply to the discussion: Can the American people get a fair impeachment trial from McConnell? [View all]Bettie
(16,147 posts)but Moscow Mitch has already indicated that he's not really planning to include Democrats in the process at all.
Here's one article: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/12/mitch-mcconnell-impeachment-senate-trial-republicans
McConnell told reporters Tuesday that hes preparing a back-up plan for figuring out the Senate rules, in case he's not able to strike a bipartisan deal with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on how to structure the proceedings. And that plan, apparently, is to try and cut Democrats out entirely. The first thing Sen. Schumer and I will do is see if theres a possibility of agreement on a procedure, McConnell said. That failing, I would probably come back to my own members and say: OK, can 51 of us agree how were going to handle this? The Majority Leader added that he wasnt sure if hed prefer a bipartisan deal or working solely with Republicans, telling reporters, it would depend on what we would agree to. Should both the bipartisan and partisan negotiations fail to figure out the trial procedure, the task would fall to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who will be presiding over the trial. Roberts would submit motions to the Senate about the procedure, which could then be passed with 51 votes.