Senate Republican Party leader Mitch McConnell is proposing to postpone the ex-Donald Trump impeachment trial until February, so that the ex-president’s new legal team has time to prepare his defense.
The House took a vote last week to accuse Trump of “inciting insurrection” after a violent mob broke into the Capitol on January 6 and interrupted President Biden’s victory at the polling station. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that she hopes to transmit the article to the Senate “soon” to immediately start a Senate trial.
But McConnell told his Republican Party colleagues on a phone call on Thursday that a two-week delay would allow Trump to prepare his legal defense and ensure due process.
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“Given the unprecedented speed of the House process, our proposed timeline for the early stages includes a modest and reasonable amount of additional time for both sides to gather their arguments before the Senate begins to hear them,” said McConnell in a statement. .
South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers will represent Trump in his impeachment trial and serve as the team’s “anchor”, Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C. said Thursday. Graham called Bowers a “solid guy” and said he has known Bowers for a long time, since the National Air Guard of South Carolina, where Bowers is a defending judge.
Graham called it “instant impeachment” as the House brought the impeachment resolution directly to the floor and without any committee hearings. As Trump is preparing his legal team, it is “fair” to give him time.
Senate minority leader Charles Schumer, DN.Y., is alongside Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., In a joint session of the House and Senate meeting to confirm the Electoral College votes cast in the November election at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, January 6, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch / Pool via AP)
“The president has been excluded from the House, so his team needs some time to prepare,” Graham told Fox News. “I think the [House impeachment] therefore, managers also strongly support Senator McConnell’s proposal. I think it’s fair for everyone. ”
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McConnell does not have the final say on the timeline. It is up to Pelosi to determine when she wants to send the impeachment article. And the new majority leader, Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., would also need to support the impeachment schedule. Any effort to proceed needs 51 senators to agree.
The benefit of delaying the trial a little would give the Senate time to confirm nominations for Biden’s cabinet. On Thursday night, only one nominee, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, passed.
According to McConnell’s proposal, the Senate would swear in the impeachment court on January 28 and issue a subpoena to Trump. Trump would have a week from that February 4 to respond to the impeachment article. The Chamber’s pre-trial briefing would also be due.
Trump would have until February 11 to respond to the House’s impeachment administrators’ petition. The House would then refute the pre-trial document on February 13, according to the Republican Party’s proposal.
McConnell says the longer pre-trial period is necessary, since the House has hastened impeachment.
“In this time of strong political passions, Senate Republicans believe that it is absolutely imperative not to allow an incomplete process to undermine the due process that former President Trump deserves or to undermine the Senate or the presidency,” said McConnell.
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Some Republicans believe that holding an impeachment trial for an out-of-office president is unconstitutional. A source familiar with the Republican Party’s call on Thursday said there was a discussion of a motion to end the trial based on constitutionality, although that would likely fail with Democrats in control.
Schumer and McConnell are trying to reach a power-sharing deal and a way forward for impeachment and nominations for Biden’s office.
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A spokesman for Schumer said that they are reviewing McConnell’s proposal: “We received the proposal from leader McConnell that deals only with pre-trial motions later this afternoon. We will review it and discuss it with him.”
Mike Emanuel of Fox News contributed to this report.