How Schumer may try to pressure McConnell into reconvening the Senate for impeachment trial

Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer.
(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has suggested it's pretty much impossible for the Senate to reconvene from recess in time to hold an impeachment trial for President Trump before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) may present him with a viable option, The Washington Post reports.

A senior Democratic aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Post that Schumer is exploring an obscure rule from 2004 that gives the Senate's minority and majority leaders the authority to call back the upper chamber in times of emergency. The catch is that Schumer and McConnell would have to agree to do so together, and the pair is not often in cahoots. But, the Post notes, the rule would theoretically put more pressure on McConnell, who has so far made the case that the upper chamber has to remain on break, barring unanimous consent.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.