The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Impeachment trial set to begin next month IN WASHINGTON
The impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump will begin the week of Feb. 8. The House plans to send the article of impeachment to the Senate on Monday. Trump is accused of instigating the deadly mob attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Senate leaders struck a deal Friday to delay former President Donald J. Trump’s impeachment trial for two weeks, giving President Biden time to install his Cabinet and begin moving a legislative agenda before they begin a historic proceeding to try his predecessor for “incitement of insurrection.”
The House still plans to deliver its impeachment charge at 7 p.m. Monday evening and senators will be sworn in for the trial the following day. But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the chamber would then pause until the week of Feb. 8 to give the prosecution and defense time to draft and exchange written legal briefs.
“During that period, the Senate will continue to do other business for the American people, such as Cabinet nominations and the COVID relief bill, which would provide relief for millions of Americans who are suffering during this pandemic,” Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor.
The delay represented a compromise between the two party leaders in the Senate. Sen. Mitch Mcconnell (R-KY.), the minority leader, had initially proposed delaying another week, until Feb. 15, to get the trial underway. He had cited the need for Trump’s
legal team, hired on Thursday, to prepare to give a full defense.
Democrats were weighing competing interests, including Biden’s agenda, a desire to dispatch with the trial of his predecessor quickly and to force Republican senators to go on the record with regard to Trump’s actions as soon as possible after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, carried out by a mob of his supporters whom he had exhorted to fight against his election defeat.
Biden, who has tried to steer clear of the impeachment issue, said earlier on Friday that he was in favor of a trial delay as the Senate works to confirm members of his administration and start considering another coronavirus relief bill, his top priority.
Trump’s impeachment trial, the second in a little over a year, presents a number of novel questions for senators. No president has ever been impeached twice and no former president has ever been put on trial.