Live updates: McConnell says Senate trial likely to begin next week

Washington — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he expects President Trump’s impeachment trial to get underway on Tuesday, January 21, as House Democrats prepare to approve a resolution needed to begin proceedings.

The House will vote Wednesday to name impeachment managers and transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate for the trial on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Tuesday.

At a meeting with fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill, Pelosi laid out the timing for the vote, and lawmakers emerging from the meeting unanimously said they support the plan. In a subsequent statement, Pelosi said Senate Republicans would be engaging in a “cover-up” if members vote to dismiss the articles without hearing from witnesses.

“The American people will fully understand the Senate’s move to begin the trial without witnesses and documents as a pure political cover-up,” Pelosi said. “Leader McConnell and the President are afraid of more facts coming to light.”

Pelosi did not reveal the names of the impeachment managers in the meeting, but several members said they assume the team will be led by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who both spoke in the meeting and laid out in detail how the Senate trial will work.