I've not heard anyone discuss this, which is probably a guarantor that it's a stupid idea, but here goes:
If the Impeachment trial occurs after Trump leaves office, it serves 2 functions. The first is to document both the President's involvment in undermining public confidence before, during and after the election by saying elections are crooked and and cannot be trusted, and doing nothing to activate the National Guard during the storming of the Capitol. And if the President is convicted, the Senate has the option of an additional vote to prohibit Trump to run for public office again.
My point is, if the trial is not necessary to remove him from office, what's the rush? The Presidential honeymoon period for legislation is traditionally 100 days. Let Congress deal with the immediate problems of the pandemic and the economy. Give Biden 100 days to assemble his cabinet and get nominees ratified. Then deal with Trump.
How much more damage can a post-President Trump do in 100 days? He can't run for office. Postponing the impeachment will allow more evidence to be collected about what happened before, during and after January 6th. In 100 days Trump could very well be distracted by the legal woes that await him in the City of New York, the State of New York, the Southern District of New York, and all of the other jurisdictions wanting to know more about the unindicted co-conspirator.
There is another psychological factor to consider. 100 days after the inauguration, people will be a lot more used to the idea of a Biden Presidency. I think it will be harder for those on the cusp of leaving Trump to excuse the idea that a revolution was good or necessary.
Is there any legal reason Pelosi can't hold off forwarding the Impeachment resolution for 100 days?
Impeachment and Biden's first 100 days
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Impeachment and Biden's first 100 days
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Re: Impeachment and Biden's first 100 days
Honestly, if I were Biden I’d be fine with the Senate holding a trial during my first 100 days. It’d allow me time and cover to round out my cabinet, unfuck Trump’s nonsense through EOs as much as possible, work on restaffing and getting the State department back on track, working on a DoD/DoJ/NSA purge, get my agenda set for the upcoming budget, and then healing alliances throughout the world.
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Re: Impeachment and Biden's first 100 days
The concern I've heard is that it will distract from Biden's first hundred days when he has one of the bigger lifts ahead of him in recent presidential history. (Economy, Covid, sedition, you know). But to delay too long would deflate the support for it as Republicans return to partisan bickering and their constituents complain they aren't doing enough to oppose the Democrats.
All indications are the House isn't going to sit on it which is, well, it's not great anyway.
As a compromise I heard Biden asked the Senate to give half days to his nominees and agenda items and then have half for impeachment. If that were to work it would be a miracle given the gridlock that has enveloped Washington for a decade. We will see I guess.
Also, support:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/1 ... ion-459333
President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is set to collide directly with President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. And there may be little anyone can do about it.
Absent the consent of all 100 senators, Trump’s trial for “incitement of insurrection” will start at 1 p.m. on Jan. 20 — just an hour after Biden is sworn into office and Trump becomes a former president, provided the articles arrive by Jan. 19. And only the same consent from the entire Senate will allow the chamber to create two tracks: One to confirm Biden’s Cabinet and pass his legislative agenda, and another for Trump’s impeachment trial.
“I’m all for accountability. But I want to make sure that we prioritize our business in a way that gets the Cabinet set and Covid relief legislation moving fast,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in an interview, adding: “Especially after the events of the last week, it’s so critical that we get a Cabinet into place and we show the peaceful and efficient transition from one Cabinet to the next.”
Given that many Republicans oppose impeachment or think it’s not even constitutional once Trump has left office, it could be tough to get the cooperation Biden needs to handle a trial alongside Cabinet confirmations and begin work on a new coronavirus stimulus bill. Biden and Democrats say it’s critical to cut a deal that does both, but one single senator can disrupt any effort to multitask.
All that makes for an even higher degree of difficulty for Biden’s Cabinet and early legislative priorities to pass the Senate in his critical first few days in office.
“We are working with Republicans to try to find a path forward,” said a spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Schumer, who will become majority leader later this month once two new Democratic senators from Georgia are sworn in and Kamala Harris becomes vice president to break ties. Until then, however, Sen. Mitch McConnell is the majority leader.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on MSNBC on Thursday that he spoke to Schumer that morning and that "there has been no exchange or conversation with Senator McConnell about setting a specific time to begin the trial."
And there’s already concern that Biden will be hamstrung in his early days. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a centrist who supports convicting Trump, said a trial “impedes that first week or two that basically should be dedicated to putting our government back in place.” He had hoped that the House might give the Senate at least a month “until we had our government up and running again.”
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is unlikely to wait until after Biden’s inauguration to trigger the trial’s start by formally transmitting the impeachment article over to the Senate. Pelosi has been tight-lipped about precise timing, but her top lieutenants spent recent days emphasizing the urgency of moving the process to the Senate as quickly as possible. Democrats had wanted McConnell to bring the Senate back this week to begin the trial in earnest, but McConnell rejected their request.
“To choose between holding accountable those who are responsible for attacking our democracy in the U.S. Capitol on the one hand and getting the work done for the people around Covid relief? That is a false choice,” said Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.). “We need to do all of those things.”
All indications are the House isn't going to sit on it which is, well, it's not great anyway.
As a compromise I heard Biden asked the Senate to give half days to his nominees and agenda items and then have half for impeachment. If that were to work it would be a miracle given the gridlock that has enveloped Washington for a decade. We will see I guess.
Also, support:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/1 ... ion-459333
President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is set to collide directly with President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. And there may be little anyone can do about it.
Absent the consent of all 100 senators, Trump’s trial for “incitement of insurrection” will start at 1 p.m. on Jan. 20 — just an hour after Biden is sworn into office and Trump becomes a former president, provided the articles arrive by Jan. 19. And only the same consent from the entire Senate will allow the chamber to create two tracks: One to confirm Biden’s Cabinet and pass his legislative agenda, and another for Trump’s impeachment trial.
“I’m all for accountability. But I want to make sure that we prioritize our business in a way that gets the Cabinet set and Covid relief legislation moving fast,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in an interview, adding: “Especially after the events of the last week, it’s so critical that we get a Cabinet into place and we show the peaceful and efficient transition from one Cabinet to the next.”
Given that many Republicans oppose impeachment or think it’s not even constitutional once Trump has left office, it could be tough to get the cooperation Biden needs to handle a trial alongside Cabinet confirmations and begin work on a new coronavirus stimulus bill. Biden and Democrats say it’s critical to cut a deal that does both, but one single senator can disrupt any effort to multitask.
All that makes for an even higher degree of difficulty for Biden’s Cabinet and early legislative priorities to pass the Senate in his critical first few days in office.
“We are working with Republicans to try to find a path forward,” said a spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Schumer, who will become majority leader later this month once two new Democratic senators from Georgia are sworn in and Kamala Harris becomes vice president to break ties. Until then, however, Sen. Mitch McConnell is the majority leader.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on MSNBC on Thursday that he spoke to Schumer that morning and that "there has been no exchange or conversation with Senator McConnell about setting a specific time to begin the trial."
And there’s already concern that Biden will be hamstrung in his early days. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a centrist who supports convicting Trump, said a trial “impedes that first week or two that basically should be dedicated to putting our government back in place.” He had hoped that the House might give the Senate at least a month “until we had our government up and running again.”
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is unlikely to wait until after Biden’s inauguration to trigger the trial’s start by formally transmitting the impeachment article over to the Senate. Pelosi has been tight-lipped about precise timing, but her top lieutenants spent recent days emphasizing the urgency of moving the process to the Senate as quickly as possible. Democrats had wanted McConnell to bring the Senate back this week to begin the trial in earnest, but McConnell rejected their request.
“To choose between holding accountable those who are responsible for attacking our democracy in the U.S. Capitol on the one hand and getting the work done for the people around Covid relief? That is a false choice,” said Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.). “We need to do all of those things.”