The Senate will hold an impeachment trial, but what it will look like remains disputed and uncertain

[JonLP24]

As President Trump prepares to stand trial in the Senate next month — proceedings that were triggered with his impeachment by the House on Wednesday — senators are hurtling toward an acquittal that is all but assured but with much uncertainty about how the chamber will arrive there.

For now, there is no clarity on how long a trial will last or even when it will begin. It is almost certain that there will not be a bipartisan agreement on witnesses. With very limited exceptions, senators are taking their cues from their party leaders, with Senate Republicans increasingly coordinating with the White House on a trial strategy that they insist will be fairer than what the House afforded Trump. Adding to the uncertainty: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) late Wednesday left open the possibility the House may not immediately send the articles of impeachment to the Senate, saying she wants to know more about how the trial will proceed.

What is certain is that the bipartisan bonhomie that at least helped launch President Bill Clinton’s Senate trial two decades ago is gone. The chamber is already locked in a bitter struggle over how the proceedings for Trump will be conducted, as the two sides trade accusations of impartiality and a rush to judgment.

Even before the two men have spoken privately, the bad blood between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has spilled into the open, with the pair trading barbs in dueling floor speeches and media interviews rather than negotiating one on one.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-senate-will-hold-an-impeachment-trial-but-what-it-will-look-like-remains-disputed-and-uncertain/2019/12/18/27f0e8ac-21b3-11ea-9c2b-060477c13959_story.html

[duforsure]

1. I think the trial and impeachment votes was already bought and paid for

When Lavrov showed up at the White House seeing trump. I think funds for campaigns were promised in return for their votes against conviction and impeachment, and to again be funneled to them using shell companies , and other groups to use for re-election, and to manipulate actual votes. Putin and trump are working together putting the squeeze on President Zellinski now ,, then they'll start a campaign for his removal for a putin backed replacement, or like putin has done to others in russia.

[moondust]

2. With the how and when undecided

because the process is not enshrined in law, the arguments and spin could be dizzying. At this point it looks like it's up to Nancy.