Trump Impeachment: McConnell Proposes Trial for February

UPDATE (11am ET; January 22)The House’s article of impeachment against former president Donald Trump will be delivered to the Senate on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, triggering the process leading to a trial. FULL STORY

Schumer said he discussed the timing with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He didn’t address a proposal from Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell to delay the start of a trial for three weeks.

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ORIGINAL STORY (6am ET, January 22): Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the start of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial should be put off until next month to give the former president time to mount a defense.

McConnell said in a statement that he has sent his proposed plan to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and will “discuss it with him.”

“At this time of strong political passions, Senate Republicans believe it is absolutely imperative that we do not allow a half-baked process to short-circuit the due process that former President Trump deserves or damage the Senate or the presidency,” the Kentucky Republican said.

The start of the trial is in limbo until Speaker Nancy Pelosi sends the House’s single impeachment charge to the Senate. McConnell proposes that the process begin Jan. 28 and allow Trump a week to respond, with his pre-trial brief due the next week, Feb. 11, according to a timeline included with his statement.

Texas Senator John Cornyn, one of McConnell’s closest advisers, said the time is needed to ensure a fair process.

“I heard Nancy Pelosi said, ‘Well we don’t need any evidence, we all saw it on TV, and we lived through it,”’ Cornyn told reporters. “To me, that’s indicative of the haste with which they’re proceeding and I think, in fairness to anybody who’s accused of impeachable offenses there needs to be some fair process.”

Pelosi said Thursday that the article of impeachment against the former president would be sent to the Senate soon, triggering the start of his trial, but she refused to specify when. She said the House impeachment managers -- the prosecutors who will present the case against Trump -- are in contact with the Senate about the timing.

The article accuses Trump of inciting insurrection for stoking a crowd of his supporters on Jan. 6 who then stormed the Capitol in a riot that left five people dead. Sending the article to the Senate would require an almost immediate start for the trial, inevitably drawing attention away from President Joe Biden’s first days in office and potentially slowing confirmation of his cabinet picks.

South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham said he had spoken with Trump and McConnell about the trial and the former president “believes this is unconstitutional and damages the presidency, but you know he’s going to have his day in court and that’s the way the system works.”

”The president was shut out in the House so his team needs some time to prepare,” Graham said.

That team began to take shape on Thursday. Trump adviser Jason Miller said on Twitter that the former president has hired Butch Bowers, a lawyer in Columbia, South Carolina, as part of his legal team. His firm specializes in representing elected officials, government agencies and political campaigns, according to its website.

Graham said he knows Bowers and calls him a “solid guy” who would be the “anchor tenant” of Trump’s legal team.

The details of the trial procedures are part of the discussion between McConnell and Schumer.

“Make no mistake about it, there will be a trial,” Schumer said Thursday. “There will be a vote up or down on whether we should convict the president. I believe we should convict the president.”

Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman later said the majority leader “received Leader McConnell’s proposal that only deals with pre-trial motions late this afternoon. We will review it and discuss it with him.”

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