When will Trump’s Senate impeachment trial start? Here’s what we know
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would deliver the article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate on Monday.
“There will be a trial,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, said on the Senate floor Friday. “It will be a full trial. It will be a fair trial”
On Thursday,Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had proposed delaying the start the trial until mid-February to give the former president’s legal team time to prepare.
“Senate Republicans are strongly united behind the principle that the institution of the Senate, the office of the presidency, and former President Trump himself all deserve a full and fair process that respects his rights and the serious factual, legal, and constitutional questions at stake,” McConnell said in a statement.
McConnell has asked that the writ of summons be filed Jan. 28 after the article of impeachment is delivered to the Senate. Trump would then have until Feb. 4 to answer the article of impeachment and his pre-trial brief would be due by Feb. 11.
Trump’s lawyers have already started building their team for the trial. Trump adviser Jason Miller confirmed Thursday that Butch Bowers will be joining Trump’s defense team.
“Excited to announce that Columbia, SC-based Butch Bowers has joined President Trump’s legal team. Butch is well respected by both Republicans and Democrats and will do an excellent job defending President Trump,” Miller tweeted.
The U.S. House of Representatives impeached Trump on Jan. 13 on the charge of “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the Capitol siege. Trump was the first president to be impeached twice and convicting him requires a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate. If all Democratic senators vote to convict, 17 Senate Republicans are still needed to convict Trump, which could allow the Senate to bar him from running for president or seeking federal office again.
Some Democrats said they would be open to a delay in the trial because it would give the Senate an opportunity to confirm more of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees in the meantime, CNN reported.
“I think Democrats will be open to considering a delay that allows former President Trump time to assemble his legal team and his defense for the impeachment trial, if we are making progress on confirming Biden’s nominees,” Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, told CNN.
Some Republican senators questioned if the Senate has the constitutional authority to put a private citizen on trial, Politico reported following a GOP conference call Thursday.
“I think it is one of the most potent arguments [for Trump], absolutely,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and Trump ally, according to Politico. Graham has been pushing for a vote to dismiss the trial before it begins.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and another Trump ally, said that proceeding with an impeachment trial is “vindictive.”
“It seems that Senate Democrats, the response they have to that is they want to start the new Congress the very first thing, with a vindictive and punitive impeachment trial,” Cruz told reporters on Thursday. “I don’t think that reflects the work of the American people.”
Pelosi has dismissed concerns that impeaching Trump could sow division among lawmakers.
“It’s not really unifying to say, let’s just forget it, and move on,” Pelosi said. “Just because he is gone, thank God, we don’t say to a president, ‘Do whatever you want in the last months of your administration ... because people want to make nice nice,’ ... I think that would be harmful for unity.”
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 11:15 AM with the headline "When will Trump’s Senate impeachment trial start? Here’s what we know."