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A potential Senate impeachment trial for President Trump is the wildest wildcard of all.
The fact is, no one really knows what a Senate trial would look like. And anyone who thinks they know how this can be an advantage to one side or the other is really kidding. Of course, there may not be 67 votes to condemn President Trump. That may be the only thing we know. Everything else is in the air.
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Conventional wisdom holds that a Senate trial would mimic President Bill Clinton's 1999 trial. This is not established. This trial did not include witnesses and a memorable closing argument made by the late Senator Dale Bumpers, D-Ark., On behalf of the president. But during the run-up to the trial, at the Capitol, there was much speculation that senators might try calling Clinton to testify and even Monica Lewinsky as plenary witnesses.
This never happened. That's because then-Senate majority leader Trent Lott, Miss. Miss, and minority leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., Forged a pact for the trial framework. Lott and Daschle then presented the agreement to the other 98 senators. All 100 senators agreed to the Lott / Daschle agreement, which limited the potential for obscene and rogue testimony in President Clinton's trial.
Reporters have peppered Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of New York and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York for weeks if they meet to set parameters for President Trump's possible trial. But there is no data. There is no meeting yet. No agreement. And even if McConnell and Schumer would pile up, one wonders if they could set an arrangement for a possible trial.
The Senate conducts much of its business through a parliamentary building known as "unanimous consent." In other words, if all 100 senators unanimously agree, the Senate can do just about anything. The Senate establishes unanimous consent agreements to decide when to meet, when to vote, and even pass some bills. But if a senator opposes, it sparks the proposal. This is not unanimous consent.
In this environment, it's hard to see how all 100 senators could agree on anything - especially by setting special ground rules for a Senate trial. This means that special Senate rules for an impeachment trial would prevail. And that can be free for everyone.
Let's consider the possibilities for witnesses.
In a Senate trial, it is customary for the House to send impeachment "managers" to the Senate. These are House members who act primarily as prosecutors and present the impeachment case to the Senate. One could certainly imagine where Democratic impeachment managers in the House would like to summon White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House budget director Russ Vought; Energy Secretary Rick Perry; former national security adviser John Bolton; lawyer Rudy Giuliani; US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and perhaps even President Trump himself.
Wow.
For their part, Republicans may want the president to position himself to defend himself against House charges. And probably Republicans would have a lot of hope to witness former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, DNC operator Alexandra Chalupa (whom Republicans claim to work with Ukraine to dig up Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort), House Intelligence Committee President Adam Schiff, D-California, and even the whistleblower.
Double Now.
There is a deadline for such procedures in Washington. The first word starts with "s" and the second word is "show".
If senators cannot agree on how to conduct a Senate trial, it is up to US Chief Justice John Roberts to decide who is inside and who is outside. The Chief Justice presides over this trial. The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist played a rather passive role in President Clinton's trial in 1999 because Messrs. Lott and Daschle settled things in advance. Here, it's anyone's game.
At the 1999 trial, the Senate brought Lewinsky, Clinton confidant Vernon Jordan, and White House aide Sidney Blumenthal. They provided video testimony.
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