On Monday, January 25, 2021 House impeachment managers walked across the Capitol and delivered to the Senate the charge against Donald J. Trump, the first president in history to be impeached twice. The charge is incitement of insurrection. They were led into the Senate chamber by the lead impeachment manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin of (D-MD), who read the article of impeachment. Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-VT), the president pro tempore of the Senate, is expected to preside over the impeachment trial. The Constitution says the chief justice presides when the person facing trial is the current president of the United States, but senators preside in other cases, one source said.
The trial is slated to begin the week of February 8, 2021. The expectation is, that it will take up much of February and wrap up by month’s end, if not sooner. Before the start of the trial the Senate hopes to confirm President Joe Biden‘s Cabinet and potentially handle the President’s Covid-19 relief package. Trump’s legal team and the House managers will have two weeks to exchange pre-trial briefs before arguments begin. Senators will be sworn in as jurors on Tuesday, January 26, 2021. 17 Republican Senators would have to vote to convict the former president in the Senate that now evenly split 50/50. 10 house republicans voted to impeach the president but getting 17 Senators to weigh the evidence in an impartial way seems a long shot. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), the only Republican who voted to convict Trump in the first impeachment trial, said, “I believe that what is being alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense. If not, what is?”
Joe Biden has proposed a 1.9 trillion dollar COVID Relief Plan. Sixteen bipartisan senators discussed the aid plan with Biden administration officials on Sunday, January 24, 2021 and while the lawmakers agreed on the need for vaccine distribution money, many questioned the overall price tag. It could take weeks for Congress to finish talks around a coronavirus relief deal and for Democrats to decide whether they should forge ahead with an aid bill without GOP support. The bill includes calls for funds to streamline vaccinations, $1,400 direct payments, a $400 weekly unemployment supplement, and state and local government support.