The Senate trial of President Donald Trump is scheduled to begin at noon Thursday, when House lawmakers will read aloud the articles of impeachment accusing the president of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.After the articles are read, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will be summoned to preside at the trial and will be sworn in at 2 p.m. Then senators will be sworn in.
Seven House lawmakers called managers will prosecute the case. They walked the articles across the Capitol late Wednesday but were told to return Thursday for the ceremonial opening of only the third trial of a sitting president in U.S. history.
"The trial will commence in earnest on Tuesday," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday, after being notified the articles had arrived. "We will pledge to rise above the petty factionalism and do justice for our institutions, for our states and for the nation."
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Pelosi called the impeachment patriotic, rather than political, personal or partisan.
"This is as serious as it gets for any of us," Pelosi said. "Only the vote to declare war would be something more serious than this."
But McConnell said House Democrats have "taken a dangerous road" by weaponizing impeachment because they wanted to remove Trump. McConnell said any future president could be threatened by impeachment for policy differences with Congress.
"Going about it in this subjective, unfair and rushed way is corrosive to our institutions. It hurts national unity,” McConnell said. “And it virtually guarantees that future houses of either party will feel free to impeach any future president they do not like."
The Daily Wire has more about how the articles of impeachment were sent to the Senate...including some snark from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz:
After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who hypocritically insisted along with other House Democrats that the job of impeaching President Trump was a sad and somber duty, celebrated sending off the articles of impeachment on Wednesday by smiling and offering taxpayer-funded golden pens to those who attended, Senator Ted Cruz (r-TX) had a golden response of his own characterizing the Democrats as buffoonish and childish, which he sent via Twitter: “Given the circus in the House, I’m surprised she didn’t use crayons.”