Well, that was fast.
Amid the news that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will receive the article of impeachment against Donald Trump in the Senate on Monday, Republicans quietly dealt a crushing blow to any hopes of a conviction.
According to insider Republicans, GOP support for an impeachment conviction — already a longshot — is dwindling. Fast.
And the early word, according to The Hill reporting, is that Democrats will fall short of the votes necessary to convict the former president.
It already looks as if Schumer and the Democrats have bungled yet another impeachment.
And they failed before it even hit the floor of the Senate.
The whispers come as Republicans and Democrats clashed over the timing of the impeachment trial. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had suggested it’s within the best interest to wait until February for impeachment.
Critics argue that Schumer initially appeared willing to agree to this, convinced that many Republicans in the Senate would vote to convict Trump.
Perhaps word got to Schumer and the Democrats that they wouldn’t have the votes, which led to the quick turnaround decision by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to deliver the article of impeachment to Schumer by Monday… before anymore GOP Senators changed their minds.
The country has restored peace, it seems, and perhaps emotions are no longer running as high as they once were among Republicans.
Not high enough to convict, anyway.
Schumer and the liberal lawmakers are promising a trial as soon as possible.
“There will be a trial,” Schumer said in making the announcement Friday. “It will be a full trial, it will be a fair trial.”
“Senate Republicans strongly believe we need a full and fair process,” McConnell said after Schumer spoke. On Thursday he proposed delaying the start of Trump’s trial to February to give the former president time to prepare and review his case. Trump is still assembling his legal team.
House Democrats who voted to impeach Trump last week for inciting the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot say a full reckoning is necessary before the country — and the Congress — can move on.
The timing and details ahead rests on negotiations between Schumer and McConnell, who are also in talks over a power-sharing agreement for the Senate, which is narrowly-split, 50-50, but in Democratic control because the vice president serves as a tie-breaking vote.
Under an extended timeline as McConnell proposed, the president’s defense team and House prosecutors would have two weeks to file briefs. Arguments would likely begin in mid-February.
The Horn News and The Associated Press contributed to this article