Some Republican members of the US Senate have voiced opposition to any attempt to outrightly dismiss charges against President Donald Trump without a trial as the upper chamber of the Congress is all set to begin impeachment procedure in the coming days.
"Our members generally are not interested in a motion to dismiss," said Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, a top Republican leader, according to The New York Times.
"They think both sides need to be heard. They believe the president needs to be heard for the first time in a fair setting," he added.
The Democratic-led US House of Representatives is expected to formally send the charges to the Senate this week, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to help acquit his fellow Republican.
In the House on Monday, Democrats leaving meetings with Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated that the chamber was most likely to vote on Wednesday to name lawmakers to prosecute the case and to send its two impeachment charges to the Senate.
Democrats had offered a motion to dismiss the charges against President Bill Clinton in his 1999 impeachment trial after the House and White House had made their opening arguments. But the resolution failed and the trial lasted several more weeks before senators ultimately voted to acquit Clinton on both charges against him.
Trump endorsed the idea of outright dismissal on Sunday, though his own views have oscillated wildly in recent weeks.
On Twitter, the president warned that holding a full trial "gives the partisan Democrat Witch Hunt credibility that it otherwise does not have."
Earlier this month, McConnell said that the Senate has enough votes to set the rules for Trump's impeachment trial in the Republican-controlled Upper Chamber.On December 18, Trump was impeached by the Democrat-led House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The President faces two charges approved by the House. First, that he abused power by pushing Ukraine to investigate his Democratic political rival, Joe Biden, holding back US military funds to the country as leverage. And second, that he then obstructed Congress by blocking witnesses and testimony in the House probe.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has argued that the president's conduct when it came to Ukraine left Democrats with "no choice but to act," charging that Trump abused the powers of the presidency and leaving little doubt that the House will hold a vote to impeach him as early as before Christmas.
( With inputs from ANI )