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AFP
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has withheld the articles of impeachment in a standoff with Republicans row over trial rules
The US House of Representatives will vote on Wednesday on sending articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate, says Democrats.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told fellow Democrats she would also name the House managers who will prosecute the case against Mr Trump in the Senate.
Mrs Pelosi has been withholding the articles of impeachment in a row with Republicans over the trial rules.
Mr Trump was impeached by the Democratic-led House last month.
His political trial by the Senate will be only the third ever of a US president.
Mr Trump’s fellow Republicans control the chamber 53-47, and are all but certain to acquit him.
What’s the next step?
Hakeem Jeffries, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters on Tuesday that Mrs Pelosi plans to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate “at some point tomorrow”.
If the vote is approved as expected, the as-yet-unnamed House managers would formally walk the articles of impeachment into the Senate chamber later on Wednesday.
Senate leader Mitch McConnell is meeting behind closed doors with Republican senators on Tuesday to map out the trial’s ground rules.
The trial is expected to last between three to five weeks, and it could begin as soon as next week.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts would be sworn in to preside over the trial. He will swear in all 100 senators as jurors.
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EPA
Senate leader Mitch McConnell has said the upper chamber won’t let House “dictate” the terms of trial
What does Trump say?
Mr Trump suggested over the weekend that he might prefer simply dismissing the charges rather than giving legitimacy to the “hoax” charges from the House.
But moderate Senate Republicans are opposed to the idea of voting to dismiss the articles of impeachment.
Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, who is part of the Senate leadership, suggested on Monday the chamber does not have the votes to simply dismiss the charges.
Moderate Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah have made clear they would oppose any such motion.
Mr Trump is accused of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
He denies trying to pressure Ukraine to open an investigation into his would-be Democratic White House challenger Joe Biden.
Mr Trump has been touting unsubstantiated corruption claims about Mr Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who served on the board of a Ukraine gas company.
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Getty Images
US President Donald Trump dismisses the case against him as a “hoax”
Will there be witnesses?
One of the biggest sticking points between House Democrats and Senate Republicans has been whether testimony will be allowed during the trial.
The Senate is considering whether to allow a motion to call additional witnesses.
It takes just 51 votes to approve rules or call witnesses, meaning four Republican senators would have to side with Democrats to insist on testimony.
The White House is understood to have identified several possible defectors in the Republican ranks, including Ms Collins and Mr Romney.
The others are Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who is retiring this year.
Ms Collins said: “My position is that there should be a vote on whether or not witnesses should be called.”
Mr Romney said he wants to hear from John Bolton, the former national security adviser at the White House. He has said he would only testify if served with a legal summons.
“I expect that barring some kind of surprise,” said Mr Romney, “I’ll be voting in favour of hearing from witnesses after those opening arguments.”
Republicans say that if witnesses are allowed, they may try to subpoena Mr Biden and his son, and the whistleblower whose complaint about Ukraine sparked the whole impeachment inquiry.
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