Globe Live Media, Monday, January 26, 2021
US President Joe Biden on Monday offered his longest remarks since taking office on the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, telling Citizen Free Press: “I think it has to happen.”
Biden made the comment during a brief personal interview with Citizen Free Press in the corridors of the White House. He acknowledged the effect it could have on his legislative agenda and cabinet appointees, but said there would be “a worse effect if it didn’t happen.”
The president told Citizen Free Press he believed the outcome would be different if Trump had six months left in his term, but said he does not believe 17 Republican senators will vote to convict Trump.
“The Senate has changed since I was there, but it hasn’t changed that much,” Biden said.
His remarks came the same night that House impeachment attorneys formally kicked off Trump’s second impeachment trial after crossing the Capitol and beginning to read in the Senate the charge against Trump, the first president of history in being accused twice.
Impeachment and its impact on the Biden administration
The trial has grown in prominence during Biden’s early days in office, as he sought to strike an uneasy balance between supporting it and spreading a message of unity. Citizen Free Press previously reported that Biden and his team were initially cold about starting his administration, that Biden promised to “turn the page” on Trump, with a focus on the former president.
Impeachment Charge Against Trump Delivered In Senate 12:46
But as the focus was put on more alarming details about the Capitol attack, early discussions among Biden’s advisers about taking an active role in the slowdown or trying to handle impeachment in some way were dropped, attendees said. as they realized that trying to do so could divide Democrats.
Biden’s comments to Citizen Free Press Monday night are based on a statement he released earlier this month in which he called the House impeachment vote “a bipartisan vote cast by members who followed the Constitution and his conscience.
“This nation also remains in the grip of a deadly virus and a reeling economy,” Biden said at the time. “I hope that the Senate leadership will find a way to deal with its constitutional responsibilities in impeachment while also working on other pressing issues of this nation.”
Begins to take shape
The contours of Trump’s trial in the Senate are beginning to take shape as the ceremonial elements advance. The longest-serving Democrat in the Senate is expected to preside over the trial while Democrats still weigh whether to pursue witnesses during proceedings that could occupy part of the month of February.
Chief Justice John Roberts will not preside, as he did in Trump’s first impeachment trial, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Instead, Senator Patrick Leahy, president pro tempore of the Senate, is expected to preside, the sources said. The Constitution says that the Chief Justice presides when the person facing trial is the current president of the United States, but senators preside in other cases, a source said.
As the fourth impeachment trial of a Senate president in U.S. history progresses, there are still two big questions about the Democrats’ impeachment case: whether they will seek witnesses and how long the trial will last. The answers to both questions are not yet known, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration still has a long list of appointments to be confirmed in the US Senate, and Republicans are already questioning the need for another huge Covid-19 relief package.