Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has announced the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump will begin the week of February 8.
Schumer explained the timing of the proceedings Friday night on the Senate floor. House impeachment managers will come to the Senate to read the single article of impeachment at 7 p.m. on Monday, January 25. Senators will be sworn in as members of the impeachment court the following day, on Tuesday, January 26. Then both the House impeachment managers and the president’s defense team will have a period of time to draft their legal briefs, during which time the Senate will continue with other work. Presentation by both sides will begin the week of February 8.
“The January 6th insurrection at the Capitol incited by Donald J. Trump was a day none of us will ever forget. We all want to put this awful chapter in our nation’s history behind us. But healing and unity will only come if there is truth and accountability, and that is what this trial will provide,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Friday evening.
Mr. Trump faces the Senate’s judgment on a single article of impeachment, on a charge of incitement of insurrection.
A trial in February not only gives both sides time to prepare, as Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had requested of Schumer, but gives the Senate more time to confirm President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees. So far, the Senate has confirmed just two: Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A spokesman for McConnell, Doug Andres, called the schedule “a win for due process and fairness,” and said: “Leader McConnell is glad that Leader Schumer agreed to Republicans’ request for additional time during the pre-trial phase. Especially given the fast and minimal process in the House, Republicans set out to ensure the Senate’s next steps will respect former President Trump’s rights and due process, the institution of the Senate, and the office of the presidency.”
“I think [the agreement] is fair to all concerned,” Senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, said in a statement.
The House impeached Mr. Trump earlier this month for the second time, this time with 10 Republicans joining Democrats to make it the most bipartisan impeachment of a president in history.
Mr. Trump’s legal team has yet to be officially announced. But one member of the team will be South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers, who has experience representing politicians embroiled in scandals. Bowers told the South Carolina Post and Courier he looks “forward to representing the former president.”
