Biden says Trump's impeachment trial 'has to happen' even if it affects his legislative agenda
- President Joe Biden still has numerous Cabinet nominations that need Senate confirmation.
- His administration's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan has garnered GOP opposition.
- Regardless, Biden on Monday said it'd be "worse" if Trump's impeachment trial didn't happen.
President Joe Biden has said the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump "has to happen," CNN reported.
Biden made the remark on the impending impeachment trial to CNN's Kaitlin Collins in the White House as House impeachment managers transmitted the article of impeachment against Trump on Monday.
The former president was impeached in January on a charge of "incitement of insurrection" in relation to the deadly storming of the US Capitol on January 6.
Senators will be sworn in as jurors in the trial on Tuesday. Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who is Senate president pro tempore, will preside over the trial.
Per a deal struck between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the impeachment trial is set to begin the week of February 8, giving impeachment managers and Trump's defense lawyers two weeks to prepare arguments. Trump will also be invited via an official summons to provide a written response to the charge brought against him, but it is not immediately clear whether the former president intends to do so.
The president acknowledged that the impeachment trial could influence the success of his own legislative agenda, but he told Collins there could be "a worse effect if it didn't happen."
Some of Biden's Cabinet picks have yet to be confirmed by the Senate, and his administration's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal is already in hot water amid Republican opposition.
Though Democrats have regained control of the Senate, a two-thirds majority vote is required to convict the former president under the Constitution. Biden told CNN that he didn't think 17 Republican lawmakers would vote to convict Trump, adding that he thought the result of the trial would be different if Trump had six months left in his term.
"The Senate has changed since I was there, but it hasn't changed that much," Biden said.