White House and Republicans discuss limiting Senate impeachment trial to two weeks

WASHINGTON - A group of Republican senators and senior White House officials met privately Thursday to map out a strategy for a potential impeachment trial of President Trump, including proceedings in the Senate that could be limited to about two weeks, according to multiple officials familiar with the talks.

Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., John Neely Kennedy, R-La., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Ted Cruz, R-Texas and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., met with White House counsel Pat Cipollone, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, senior adviser Jared Kushner, and counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, according to the officials, some of whom requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

The meeting was organized by White House legislative affairs director Eric Ueland, who was also in attendance along with advisers Pam Bondi and Tony Sayegh, recently hired to guide the White House's impeachment messaging and strategy.

No final decisions were made on strategy for a trial that, if it happens, would come in January at the earliest. But one prominent scenario discussed, according to officials, was a trial that would last for roughly two weeks, which several Senate Republicans view as the ideal option because they believe it would be long enough to have credence without dragging on too long.

The scenario assumes the proceedings would end in acquittal in the GOP-controlled Senate.

"I don't want them to believe there's an ability to dismiss the case before it's heard," Graham said Thursday following the meeting with Cipollone. "I think most everybody agreed, there's not 51 votes to dismiss it before the managers get to call the case."

But even a two-week trial could run counter to what Trump has expressed privately. The president is "miserable" about the ongoing impeachment inquiry and has pushed to dismiss the proceedings right away, according to people familiar with Trump's sentiments.

"No final decision has been made," one senior White House official said Thursday. Other options, including a longer trial, were discussed, and could still happen.

During the meeting, there was also a discussion of whether to seek additional evidence or call witness such as Hunter Biden, the son of former vice president and potential Trump 2020 rival Joe Biden. The House impeachment inquiry is centered on Trump's alleged attempts to Ukraine to announce investigations of the Bidens to help his reelection.

The senators and senior White House officials also discussed the potential of having limited or no defense on the president's behalf - although several congressional allies have repeatedly stressed that they want ample time for Trump and his attorneys to make his case in public.

The private meeting underscored the increased coordination between the White House and Senate Republicans as the House proceedings appear to point to likely impeachment as early as next month. Even if the House votes to impeach Trump - the third U.S. president in history with that mark - Democrats face a potentially insurmountable hurdle for conviction in the Senate, where 67 votes would be needed to remove Trump from office.

Cruz, who confirmed he attended the meeting earlier Thursday with top White House officials, stressed that he believed it was imperative that both the House impeachment managers and the president's attorneys get time to make their arguments.

"If and when the matter comes to the Senate, I think it's incumbent on the Senate to do much better," Cruz said in an interview. "I expect the Senate to conduct proceedings that are fair, that respect due process and that allow both sides to present their case, to present their witnesses, to present their evidence and for the Senate then to render a judgment consistent with the law and Constitution."

Cruz declined to delve into details, but said the group discussed "where we are, what's coming up next, what hurdles are likely to be."

The 53-member Senate Republican Conference has been divided on how long a Senate trial should be. Some align with Trump's view, seeking to dismiss it as soon as possible. Others have sought a middle-of-the-road option like two weeks.

Still others have toyed with a more drawn-out trial that has the potential to scramble the schedules of a half-dozen Democratic senators who are running for president but would be jurors in an impeachment trial.