the presentation of the case by the democratic house managers, then the senate will talk among themselves about witnesses. you know, i m really kind of curious about the timing here. the general hold up that were seeing. if that lasts much longer before those articles are transferred, we could see people voting across this country beginning to go to the polls. that state of union address, the invite was for february 4. so all of this happening at once, is this part of a grand plan? or is there not a plan? is someone trying to make this happen or is it, is there not that much going on? well, republicans are in the dark about this and an impeachment trial, you go back to 1999 when bill clinton was impeached. the trial began in the senate on january 7th, and clinton was acquitted on february 12th. if it were to happen on the same days this time, that would include the iowa caucuses for democrats, the new hampshire primary, and as you just mentioned, the state of the union address on f
trade plan to put to bed, and the small matter of averting a government shutdown and, yes, potentially impeaching the president of the united states. by our account three of four of those things have been done. believe it or not, most have been checked off. the president even accepted the speaker s invitation to give the state of the union, remember that was bitterly contested just last year amid the government shutdown. but on the horizon looms a fight between speaker nancy pelosi and majority leader mitch mcconnell over the senate trial. and as with so many things on capitol hill, timing is everything. drawing out a senate trial has the potential to make life complicated for lawmakers that are running for president. and the washington post reports that pelosi s delay in transmitting the articles could push a trial centered on trump s conduct toward ukraine further into an election year and deny him the swift acquittal he is seeking. the speaker on friday invited trump to deliver
them, the other one should as well? well, first of all, we know what the deal is. if they want to call adam schiff or hunter biden, we know they re calling them to mount an attack on them. in fact, we would have to question whether or not that is fair. i think part of the issue we have to really recognize is we re talking about having a fair trial. and so that should be negotiated. and mitch mcconnell has said up front that he s going to coordinate with the white house, that he s going to run their agenda, he s going to protect donald trump and make sure he s exonerated. that s the issue. we have to insist and i think the speaker is absolutely correct in insisting that the rules of engagement, the rules of the trial be set forth and that they be fair before she sends over these articles. you know, the president has accepted the speaker s invitation to dlir the state of the union address on february 4th. given the timing, are you
whole ball game. reporter: with all of the friction, the president has semd pelosi s invitation to deliver the state of the union in early february, but that could be messy if the impeachment trial is still under way. jim acosta, cnn, the white house. let s talk about all of this. it s quite the potpourri. joing me now to discuss, rachel bade, a congressional reporter for the washington post and david swerdlick, an assistant editor for the washington post and cnn political commentator. good to see you both. david, what do you make of the way the president has attacked christianity today over that op-ed. good morning, fred. early happy hannukah. you can imagine that the president is upset about this. he did not want to be impeached. he did not want to see those headlines thursday morning in the washington post, the new york times and other newspapers saying trump impeached. that being said, he is now sort
impeachment prile in the senate. just two days after his impeachment in the house, he accepted an invitation by speaker nancy pelosi to give his annual state of the union address on february 4th, a speech which could be overshadowed by his upcoming trial. the president wants an immediate trial in the senate, but the timing is now up in the air. as democratic and republican leaders clash over the rules. some house democrats are urging pelosi to indefinitely withhold the articles until majority leader, senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell agrees to hold a fair trial. in west palm beach near the president s home, despite this, he was able to pass a spending bill. his daughter says he is energized in all of this. that s right. essentially here is where we are in this entire process. we know that president trump passed this sweeping spending