Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump met Wednesday at the White House and discussed the upcoming Senate impeachment trial, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
McConnell, one of the sources said, walked Trump through the trial format and discussed how Senate Republicans were reacting to the developments around the trial.
McConnell was at the White House to introduce Trump to a judge, and later the Senate leader and the President met privately.
The senator from Kentucky has not shared with the White House the text of the resolution that would set up the trial, according to one of the sources, who insists there’s no negotiation with the GOP leader’s office on how the language should be drafted. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has demanded to see the resolution before sending the two articles of impeachment to the Senate.
McConnell’s interactions with Trump are sure to fuel Democratic accusations that the majority leader is improperly coordinating with the President before the trial, which will determine whether Trump should be removed from office.
The White House has been engaged in a discussion with the leader’s office for weeks and has reacted to various ideas and proposals about how they believe the trial should be set up. The White House also has been reviewing how the 1999 Senate resolution to set up the Bill Clinton trial was drafted, sources said.
McConnell wants a quick trial – and White House officials confirmed to CNN that they are on the same page with the leader.
“We want this to start as quickly as possible,” said Eric Ueland, the White House legislative director. “We want the President to be acquitted as quickly as possible.”