I am aghast at how people (who we presume to be Dems) are writing at DK “our leaders dither” and similar quips and it is less than 5 days since those same leaders’ lives were threatened and Capitol was cleared and secured. I am not complaining about legitimate criticisms, but about disrespect with insulting statements based upon erroneous assumptions. We can do better. I will trust Dem House judgment until I read more substantive, constructive criticism.
After reentering the excrement coated halls to continue the business of tabulating EC results into the wee hours of Thursday morning, the Senate adjourned at ~2:30am for recess until Jan 19th.
What the recess means is that if house managers deliver the articles of impeachment to the Senate when it opens the Jan 19th session at 1pm, a Senate trial can start on the day of Biden’s inauguration. And then Senate leadership changes. And then two new Dem Senators are sworn in. And then approving Biden’s Cabinet appointments becomes very urgent business. All this has been discussed in the news as many informed Kossacks know. But here is a decent source on timeline and the balancing act of priorities during a uniquely challenging government transition — by Ed Kilgore at the Intelligencer:
The beginning date of a Senate trial is not, however, strictly up to Pelosi. Mitch McConnell is taking the position that the Senate is only obligated to entertain an “exhibition” of an article of impeachment on January 19, when it is scheduled to reconvene. If the House managers show up the minute the Senate goes back into session, then an impeachment trial would begin at 1 p.m. the following day — which happens to be Inauguration Day.
There’s a decent chance Pelosi would hold back on transmittal of the article of impeachment until well after Inauguration Day to let Biden take office and begin securing confirmation of his Cabinet. Indeed, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn suggested over the weekend that Democrats might give Biden “100 days” to get his presidency under way before transmitting the article and forcing the Senate to hold the trial (the rules require the Senate to stay in session six days a week until the trial ends, basically forcing all other business to the sidelines).
Another timing factor affecting the date of transmittal is the Democratic takeover of the Senate, which will occur once Georgia’s January 5 runoff election is finally certified, sending Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to Washington and allowing new Vice-President Kamala Harris to break a tie and let her party organize the chamber. Georgia’s certification deadline is January 22, and since there is obviously no way a Senate trial will be concluded by then, it would make sense for Pelosi to wait until Chuck Schumer is in charge of the Senate before triggering a trial.