Chief Justice Roberts won’t preside over Trump Senate trial

Susan Ferrechio reporting for Washington Examiner

Chief Justice John Roberts won’t preside over former President Donald Trump's Senate trial, Senate sources confirmed Monday. 

Instead, Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Senate’s president pro tempore, will oversee the proceedings against Trump, who left office on Jan. 20. 

The House on Jan. 13 passed one article impeaching Trump for inciting an insurrection against the Capitol. 

But Trump is now gone from office.

The Constitution calls on the high court’s chief justice to preside over a Senate impeachment trial of the president. Roberts presided over Trump’s 2020 impeachment trial, which lasted nearly three weeks and resulted in his acquittal. 

But Roberts is not coming this time around.

The Constitution does not outline how to impeach an ex-president.

The missing instructions have left Senate leaders in both parties to devise their own rules, including who will preside over the trial.

They have chosen Leahy, the highest-ranking senator due to his tenure. 

"Sen. Leahy is expected to preside at trial," a Senate source told the Washington Examiner. "Senators preside when the impeached is not the president of the United States."

Leahy, 80, has served in the Senate since 1975, occasionally moonlighting as an actor. He starred in such Hollywood hits as Batman Forever and other installments in the series.