[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 13 (Friday, January 22, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S96-S97]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              IMPEACHMENT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday I also shared a proposal for 
the pretrial steps in the Senate impeachment process that appears to be 
headed our way and, as I understand it, will be headed our way on 
Monday. By Senate rules, if the article arrives, we have to start a 
trial right then.
  This impeachment began with an unprecedentedly fast and minimal 
process over in the House. The sequel cannot be an insufficient Senate 
process that denies former President Trump his due process or damages 
the

[[Page S97]]

Senate or the Presidency itself. Senate Republicans strongly believe we 
need a full and fair process where the former President can mount a 
defense and the Senate can properly consider the factual, legal, and 
constitutional questions at stake.
  For that reason, we suggest the House transmit this article next 
Thursday, but that apparently is going to be next Monday; that former 
President Trump's answer and the House's pretrial brief, I suggested, 
be due on February 4; and that the former President's pretrial brief be 
due, I suggested, on February 11. That timeline would have provided the 
Senate some more floor time before we step fully into the unknown of a 
trial--which, by the way, would have been of substantial benefit to the 
incoming administration and allowed them to get more of their Cabinet 
confirmed, on which we are cooperating as best we can to expedite

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