Senate Trial Likely To Start Next Week After Pelosi Ends Impeachment Impasse

President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial will likely begin Jan. 21, according to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

The news comes as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that that two articles will be transferred to the Senate, ending a three-week standoff over how the trial would be conducted, according to Bloomberg.

“Tuesday is what it’s feeling like,” Cornyn told reporters, adding that he expects the articles and the names of impeachment managers from the House this week (likely Jerrold Nadler of NY and Adam Schiff of CA).

Cornyn also says there will likely be a full trial, as there won’t be enough votes to dismiss the charges without one as Trump has suggested over Twitter.

“My understanding is that most Republicans want to have a full trial,” said Conryn.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg cites a Quinnipiac University poll which found that 2/3 of US voters want former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton to testify – a finding which may convince Republicans to join with Democrats in calling him as a witness.

Bolton’s offer to testify at the trial if subpoenaed has been central to attempts by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats to force the GOP-controlled Senate to allow witnesses. It would take just four Republican senators to vote with Democrats to get a majority on the question of witnesses. Maine Senator Susan Collins, one of the most vulnerable GOP incumbents in 2020, said last week she’s been talking with a small number of her colleagues about allowing new testimony.The poll, conducted Jan. 8-12 among self-identified registered voters, also found a bare majority, 51%, approved of the House vote to impeach Trump and 46% disapproved. Voters were divided on the verdict of a trial, with 48% saying the Senate should not vote to remove the president from office and 46% saying Trump should be removed.

The poll of 1,562 people nationwide has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. –Bloomberg

According to the report, Nadler and Schiff are likely to be the top names on the prosecution team in the Senate trial, according to Rep. Dan Kildee of Michigan during a Monday interview with CNN, who said it would be a “Talented group, obviously with Adam Schiff and Nadler — one would expect them.”