The majority whip says the House may wait until after Biden’s first 100 days to send articles to the Senate
“We’ll take the vote that we should take in the House, and (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi) will make the determination as to when is the best time to get that vote and get the managers appointed and move that legislation over to the Senate,” Clyburn told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”
“It just so happens that if it didn’t go over there for 100 days, it could — let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running, and maybe we’ll send the articles sometime after that,” the South Carolina Democrat added.
Pelosi said Friday that Democrats are prepared to move forward this week with impeaching Trump over his role in last week’s deadly attack on the US Capitol if he doesn’t resign. Democrats plan to introduce their impeachment resolution, which already has more than 190 co-sponsors, on Monday and sources tell CNN that the party is looking at having votes no sooner than Wednesday but they are still sorting out their plans.
The comments from Clyburn come as Democrats grapple with how impeaching Trump for a second time could impact Biden’s early days in office, when he is working to get administration appointments approved in the Senate and tackling legislative priorities, like another coronavirus relief package. The incoming President’s aides, meanwhile, are working behind the scenes with Pelosi and others to prevent Congress from becoming bogged down with impeachment during his early days in office.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell previously made clear in a memo that even if the House moved in the coming days to impeach Trump, the Senate would not return to session before January 19. That would place the start of the trial on January 20 — the date of Biden’s inauguration.
From there on out, the Senate is rendered mostly incapable of any action other than the trial until its completion, as was apparent during the first Trump impeachment trial.
By impeaching and removing Trump, even at this late stage of his term, the Senate could subsequently vote to disqualify him from ever holding federal office again, taking an extraordinary action against a former president.
Biden aides work to ensure impeachment doesn’t become a distraction
Waiting to send any articles to the Senate is one of the ideas being discussed by advisers to the President-elect, though advisers say other ideas have been under discussion this weekend, including censuring Trump in a move that may be able to draw more bipartisan support than impeachment could.
Doing nothing at all and allowing the final days of Trump’s presidency to expire without punishment from Congress is not being discussed.
“The train has left the station on impeachment,” an official close to Biden told CNN. “Trying to stop it would not only fail, but put Biden on the wrong foot with progressives and most Democrats across the party.”
Conversations between Biden and Pelosi and many of their respective advisers have taken place throughout the weekend.
Biden is poised to roll out more specifics of his economic relief package this week in Wilmington, Delaware, where aides say he will implore Congress to act swiftly to pass the bill as one of the first acts of his presidency.
“That bill cannot and should not be delayed because of a Senate impeachment trial,” an official close to Biden said.
Stream of Republicans support Trump’s removal
Already, several congressional Republicans have joined Democrats in making clear they want Trump to leave office, though not all agree that impeachment is the right option.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, meanwhile, has endorsed invoking the 25th Amendment, which would force Trump’s removal.
This story has been updated with additional details Sunday.
CNN’s Phil Mattingly, Manu Raju, Kate Sullivan and Nicky Robertson contributed to this report.
