Is There Political Barter Behind Donald Trump's Impeachment Attempts?

Voting in the US House of Representatives regarding the impeachment of Donald Trump on 18 December 2019 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as a representative of the Republican Party, has submitted a request that the Democrat Party postpone the sending of impeachment charges to former United States President Donald Trump until January 28.

In addition, McConnell also asked the Senate to give Trump time to prepare a defense against allegations of inciting rebellion, during the riots on Capitol Hill last January 6. An event that saw Trump face his second impeachment attempt in the space of a year.

Launching Reuters, it is known that the US House of Representatives can send a draft of impeachment as soon as possible on Friday, January 22 local time. Meanwhile, Senator of the Democratic Party, Dick Durbin, hopes that this can be realized in a day or two. However, Durbin could not confirm whether the trial would be held full of witnesses and evidence, or whether the procedure would be expedited.

There has been no comment from the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi regarding this matter. However, Republican Senator John Coryn said the Senate had discussed giving Trump time to prepare for trial.

"From what I understand from today's conversation, it only started around mid-February," Republican Senator Mike Braun told reporters.

Bargaining position

What is interesting is, it is possible that the impeachment trial process of Donald Trump has a correlation with the ratification of the candidate for cabinet minister of the government of Joe Biden - Kamala Harris. The simple calculation is that if all the ministerial candidates submitted are approved by the Senate, then the request to postpone the trial in February can also be agreed.

Despite dominating the US House of Representatives and controlling the US Senate as the majority, Democrats need Republican support to reach a minimum of 60 votes in the Senate vote. This collaboration is also needed to make much of Joe Biden's agenda a success.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons said his party was open to considering postponement if the process for ratifying the ministerial candidate proposed by Biden was also smooth in the Senate.

"There are dozens of senior members of the government who need to be confirmed and deserve to be confirmed. If we continue to make progress in that direction, then I think this is a good move. Otherwise you will soon see we (Democrats) move quickly to file a trial of impeachment. "he told CNN as reported by Reuters.