Senate Will Consider Trump’s Impeachment in an Accelerated Way

On the eve of the Senate, proceedings began on the impeachment of the president. The process is expected to take about two weeks. The US Senate will conduct the process as part of President Donald Trump’s impeachment in an accelerated manner. The corresponding resolution was supported by 53 Republicans, 47 Democrats opposed. The adopted document governs the timing and sequence of proceedings. It is assumed that in the Senate this process with a practically predetermined ending will take about two weeks. The proposal caused Democrats’ severe criticism. According to the document, the Republicans plan to give the prosecutors chosen by the House of Representatives and lawyers defending Trump 24 hours each for three working days to provide their arguments. Then, 16 hours are allotted to the parties to answer questions from senators. This process is not limited to the number of working days. After this, a four-hour debate is to take place and its purpose is to determine whether to call witnesses to the process and request any additional documents. If no witnesses are called, the upper house will vote on each of the two charges: abuse of power and obstruction of the investigation conducted by Congress. Republicans rejected eight Democrat amendments on resolution during the Senate meeting. In particular, they did not allow a hearing with former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, who had previously stated his readiness to speak in the Senate. Another seven rejected amendments concerned documents submission to the Senate related to the cessation of military assistance to Ukraine from the White House, the State Department, the Office of Management and Budget and the US Department of Defense. In addition, the Democratic amendments provided for hearings with the acting head of the White House administration, Mick Malevni and two administration officials, Robert Blair and Michael Duffy, who were involved in the process of aid cessation for Ukraine. Another proposal involved evidence presentation in the process of impeachment, collected during other hearings in the US Congress. Recall that as reason for proceedings was considered the information that the American leader put pressure on the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, demanding an investigation to be launched against the son of Joe Biden in exchange for defrosting military assistance.