Sen. Patrick Leahy To Preside Over Trump’s Senate Impeachment Trial

Chief Justice John Roberts will not take on the role for the trial that begins the week of Feb. 8, a source says. A chief justice presides only when a sitting president is on trial.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., will preside over former President Donald Trump’s trial in the Senate, a Senate source told NPR. Leahy, 80, is the president pro tempore of the Senate, a constitutional role given to the longest-serving lawmaker in the majority party. The president pro tempore is third in the line of presidential succession, after the vice president and House speaker.

When asked if he was concerned about remaining impartial, Leahy told reporters: “I have presided over hundreds of hours in my time in the Senate. I don’t think anybody has ever suggested I was anything but impartial in those hundreds of hours.”

Leahy added: “I’m not presenting the evidence. I am making sure that procedures are followed. I don’t think there’s any senator who over the 40-plus years I’ve been here that would say that I am anything but impartial in voting on procedure.”

Source: Sen. Patrick Leahy To Preside Over Trump’s Senate Impeachment Trial

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