The US House of Representatives voted - Wednesday evening - to approve the procedures for impeaching outgoing President Donald Trump, and approved his indictment, and the Democrats considered this an affirmation of the rule of law, but the Republicans asserted that a fair trial for Trump could not be held during the short remaining period of his term, while the president-elect hoped Joe Biden for Congress to approve his cabinet nominations in conjunction with Trump's trial.
Donald Trump became the first president in the history of the United States to be referred to the Senate twice for trial with the intention of impeaching him, after the House of Representatives charged him on Wednesday with "incitement to rebellion", against the background of a crowd of his supporters storming the Capitol building on the sixth of this month.
By 232 to 191, all Democratic and 10 Republicans voted in favor of the "impeachment" decision.
Democratic US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi considered that the indictment issued by the House of Representatives against the outgoing President Donald Trump to be tried before the Senate for a second time with the intention of impeaching him proves that "no one is above the law."
Pelosi said, upon signing the indictment in preparation for referring it to the Senate, that "the House of Representatives showed today - with bipartisan participation - that no one is above the law, not even the President of the United States," reiterating the warning that Trump poses a "clear and immediate danger" to the country. .
Republic Brakes
For his part, the leader of the Republicans in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, announced - on Wednesday - that it is not possible to conduct a "fair or serious" trial for President Donald Trump within the short period remaining in the White House, and before President-elect Joe Biden takes office next week.
"Given the rules, procedures and precedents in the Senate that govern trials to impeach presidents, there is simply no chance of a fair or serious trial before President-elect Biden is sworn in next week," McConnell said.
After the House of Representatives directed an indictment against Trump to stand trial in the Senate with the intention of impeaching him, McConnell asserted that he would not call the Senate to convene before the scheduled date for the resumption of its sessions on January 19, justifying his decision by saying that "even if the (trial) procedures begin in the Senate This week it has gone quickly, and a final verdict will not be reached until President Trump has left office.
McConnell had previously confirmed that he would not rule out voting in favor of convicting Trump, if he were to be tried before the aforementioned council.
"I have not made my final decision as to how to vote," McConnell wrote in a letter to his Republican colleagues. "I intend to hear the legal arguments as they are presented in the Senate."
McConnell was until recently a staunch Trump ally.
During the latter's trial for the first time in early 2020, he tightened his grip on the ranks of the Republicans in the Senate, so that only one Republican member voted for the Democrats to convict the president.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he was "pleased to hear that McConnell will not agree to a speedy trial to impeach President Trump."
He added that the impeachment and trial measures within a week would have damaged American institutions and could lead to more violence.
For his part, the leader of the Democratic minority in the current US Senate, Chuck Schumer, said, "There will be a trial to impeach Trump in the Senate, and the vote will be on his conviction of major crimes and misdemeanors."
Schumer said in a statement that despite the efforts of Trump and the rebels, "the United States has been and will remain a democracy forever."
Senators Ron Johnson and Lindsay Graham called for the formation of an independent commission to investigate the storming of Congress, and said in a joint statement, "The committee should consist of non-partisan security experts recognized at the national level."
Biden
On Wednesday night, US President-elect Joe Biden called on the leadership of the Senate to approve the appointments he made and the decisions he intends to take at the beginning of his term, in parallel with the Council's duties in conducting a trial of outgoing President Donald Trump.
In his first comment on the indictment issued by the House of Representatives against Trump to stand trial, Biden said - in a statement - that the United States is suffering under the weight of the Covid-19 pandemic and its stifling economic repercussions, and it needs the Senate to quickly approve appointments in the new administration in order to be able to address these Challenges after taking office on the 20th of this month.
Trump's trial in the Senate will not begin until after this date.
"I hope that the Senate leadership will find a way in which it can deal simultaneously with its constitutional responsibilities regarding impeachment, and with other urgent matters of this nation," Biden said in his statement.