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U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is unwilling to preside over another Senate impeachment trial against former President Trump, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in an interview Monday evening.
There were rumors that Roberts would step down ahead of the Senate trial, which would make room for Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., To chair. A Senate source told Fox News that the pro tempore chairman of the body presides over cases where the indicted individual is no longer President of the United States.
Schumer told MSNBC that the decision rests with Roberts.
“The Constitution says the chief justice presides for a sitting president. So it was up to John Roberts if he wanted to preside with a president who no longer sits, Trump, and he doesn’t want to,” said Schumer.
House Democrats handed the impeachment case against Trump to the Senate on Monday night for the start of his landmark trial, but Republican senators toned down their criticism of the former president and avoided calls to convict him for the murderous siege of the US Capitol.
President Joe Biden dealt a blow to Senate Democrats when he said in an interview that it appears they would not be able to convict Trump for allegedly inciting a crowd before a riot on Capitol Hill.
Biden told CNN he didn’t think Senate Democrats would get 17 Republicans to vote to convict the former president. He said his opinion might have been different had Trump been in power for a few more months.
“The Senate has changed since I’ve been there, but it hasn’t changed much,” Biden said. Biden, however, said he agreed with Democrats that the trial “must take place.”
Fox News’ Tyler Olson and The Associated Press contributed to this report
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