Page 5 - Florida Sentinel 12-20-19

Political News
Trump Is Impeached. What’s Next?
The House of Represen- tatives voted Wednesday to impeach President Trump, a truly historic moment in what has been an unconventional and po- larizing presidency. During an epic debate today, De- mocrats and Republicans clashed on the House floor, delivering hours of speeches before casting largely party-line votes on two articles of impeach- ment.
To get some perspective on this remarkable day, we turned to Nicholas Fandos, our indefatigable congres- sional reporter, to explain the significance of what we just watched and give us a preview of what’s coming next.
Hi, Nick. So, talk to us about what you just wit- nessed. How big a mo- ment is this?
This is a moment that can only be described in
PRESIDENT TRUMP
will now go home for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. But we expect, early in the new year, the Senate to reconvene and start sitting basically as a jury in a trial of the presi- dent. We don’t know how long that trial will last. We don’t know how expansive it will be. The outcome seems most likely to be the president’s acquittal and continuation in office — not a conviction and removal from office. But that is the next unpredictable phase in this whole saga.
Democrats had a lot of control in the House, but they’re the minority in the Senate. Do they have any control in the next phase?
Democrats will appoint a group of a half-dozen law- makers to serve as “im- peachment managers,” or prosecutors in the Senate trial. And they can recom-
mend that the Senate call witnesses. They’ll be able to orally present their case to the Senate and potentially question any witnesses who do come up. But, by and large, they will now be at the mercy of the (Republi- can) senators who control the process.
How closely is Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, coordi- nating with the presi- dent and his office?
McConnell said last week that he would closely coordinate the parameters of the trial. Now, whether he decides to take it upon himself to be an advocate for the president’s position in the trial, that remains to be seen. But as of right now, it’s not entirely clear where he will fall, except he’s made clear he thinks the Democratic case is a weak one and that it will lead to acquittal.
historical terms. President Trump is now only the third American president ever to be impeached by the House of Representatives. In terms of the three-year struggle between this un- conventional president and the Democrats, who view him as nothing short of a threat to democracy, this
will certainly go down as one of the most consequen- tial inflection points.
Yes, this is a moment historians will be writ- ing about for a long time. But the process is far from over. Where do we go from here?
Somewhat anticlimacti- cally, the House and Senate
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