Chuck Schumer may invoke emergency powers to hasten Trump’s impeachment trial: report

Democrats are strategizing how to impeach Donald Trump without derailing President-elect Joe Biden’s administration.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote on impeachment on Wednesday, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is not expected to bring the Senate back from vacation to hold a trial.

“Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) is exploring using an obscure, post-Sept. 11-era authority to reconvene the Senate as the House barrels toward a likely impeachment vote of President Trump this week,” The Washington Post reported Monday, citing “a senior Democratic aide.”

“In 2004, the Senate majority and minority leaders were given the power to bring the Senate back into session in times of emergency, and the senior Democratic aide said Schumer is exploring this option to allow for a potential impeachment trial for Trump to begin immediately after the House transmits the articles to the Senate. The aide spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss evolving party strategy,” the newspaper reported. “Schumer’s exploration of this option is one way the incoming majority leader is rebutting an argument laid out by his counterpart, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who told GOP senators in a memo last week that it was virtually impossible to begin an impeachment trial before Jan. 19, which is when the Senate reconvenes. Both McConnell and Schumer would have to agree to reconvene the Senate, putting pressure back on the outgoing majority leader to confront Trump as the House heads toward an impeachment vote this week for the president’s role in inciting the violent siege on the Capitol on Jan. 6.