White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that President Biden “will not spend too much time” studying former President Trump’s Senate accusations, insisting he has the “pace, process and mechanics” of the proceedings to the Senate.
Trump’s second Senate indictment begins Tuesday after the House voted for a second time on January 13 to indict him – this time on charges of inciting an uprising before and during the January 6 riot on the Capitol.
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Biden and the White House have been repeatedly pressured for comment on the accusation, but Psaki said during the White House’s briefing on Monday that the president will be ‘fairly busy’ and has a full schedule this week.
“He will not spend too much time on the proceedings during this week,” Psaki said, adding that the president was and will remain in close contact with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate majority leader. Chuck Schumer, and a series of officials on the hill. ‘
“He will leave the pace, process and mechanics of the indictments to members of Congress,” Psaki said.
Psaki has been pressured by a number of reporters to comment further on the accusation – even after Biden himself was asked on Monday morning whether Trump should lose his political rights.
“Oh, I do not – look, he got an offer to testify, he decided not to do it,” Biden said Monday morning. “Let the Senate get it right. Thank you.”
Psaki said Biden is “no longer in the Senate” and will leave it to his former Senate colleagues and members of Congress to determine the way forward.
Meanwhile, Psaki has been asked if Biden believes Trump should be eligible to continue receiving intelligence briefings – after Biden told CBS he had “no need” for it. Psaki said she was not “aware” of any requests from Trump to receive a briefing, but said Biden would leave the decision to intelligence officials.
Psaki did say that Biden feels that Trump’s behavior is ‘volatile’.
“He met him because he felt he was unfit for office, and he defeated him, and therefore President Trump is no longer President of the United States,” Psaki said. “I think his view of President Trump is pretty clear.”
Trump’s indictment begins Tuesday. It is unclear at this stage how long this will take.
General Manager Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Last week asked Trump to testify before or during the indictment.
“The president will not testify in an unconstitutional process,” Trump’s senior adviser Jason Miller told Fox News last week.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Have not yet announced an agreement on how the hearings will work for the trial itself. The only thing currently known is that the case will be dropped on Tuesday at 1 p.m., and that Senator Patrick Leahy, Dvt., Will oversee the proceedings.
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What is unknown is how long the trial will last, whether there will be witnesses, how the trial will be structured as it happens, and whether the Senate will divide its time between tackling legislation and nominations and holding the trial, or if it will just cost expensive trial procedures.
A potential agreement for a trial framework is being bought from senators to see if they can agree on it. The trial would begin with a four-hour debate on whether the trial is constitutional, and then a vote will be taken on whether to proceed. There can also be debate and voting on whether prosecution managers can call witnesses, who are subject to a simple majority threshold.
And the trial framework will be changed from six days a week with Sundays to six days a week with Saturdays. Trump lawyer David Schoen keeps the Jewish Sabbath, so he is asked to stop the trial on Friday at 5pm and resume again on Sunday.
The House’s accusation managers and Trump’s defense team will also submit a second round to the Senate on Monday as part of a preliminary agreement between McConnell and Schumer. These assignments should provide a further window into how each party will conduct its argument after submitting a round of assignments last week.