The House impeachment vote took place earlier in the day than was expected. After a single day of hearings and debate, the House voted 232-197 to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection,” with 10 Republicans joining with the Democrats.

McConnell, who remains Majority Leader at this time because the state of Georgia has not yet certified the results of this month’s Senate runoff elections, confirmed that he is not prepared to re-convene the Senate earlier than originally scheduled so that an impeachment trial could commence immediately. Part of his reasoning is that it even if he were to immediately re-convene the Senate, it would be impossible to conduct a fair impeachment trial on a fast enough timeframe to have the trial end before inauguration day. McConnell has also signalled that his mind is not made up on how he would vote in the Senate trial, which is a stark contrast to the first impeachment.

As such, the timing of Senate action on the impeachment remains unclear. President-elect Biden reiterated today his hope that “Senate leadership will find a way to deal with their constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation.”