Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell is proposing majority leader Chuck Schumer to postpone the start of former President Trump’s impeachment trial until February, several sources familiar with the plan told CBS News. McConnell confirmed his proposal in a statement on Thursday.
This schedule would give impeachment managers and Trump’s defense at least a week to prepare. McConnell presented the proposal to Republican Party senators in a political convention conference call on Thursday. McConnell, now in the minority, has no final say on when the trial will take place. Schumer would have to agree with the proposal. The Chamber has not yet sent the single impeachment article for inciting insurrection to the Senate.
Schumer is reviewing the proposal.
“We received the proposal from leader McConnell that deals only with pre-trial motions later this afternoon. We will look into it and discuss it with him,” said a spokesman for Schumer on Thursday.
According to McConnell’s proposed schedule, House impeachment managers would read the article to the Senate and senators would be sworn in to the impeachment court on January 28, a Thursday. From that day on, Mr. Trump would have a week to respond to the article and the House’s pre-trial summary would be due, that is, February 4. Mr. Trump would have a week from when to send his response to also present his pre-trial summary of the trial, that is, February 11th. The Chamber would have two days after that (February 13) to present the defense brief before the trial.
“Senate Republicans are strongly united behind the principle that the Senate institution, the presidential office and former President Trump himself deserve a complete and fair process that respects their rights and serious factual, legal and constitutional issues in game, “McConnell said in his statement. “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 assemble their arguments before the Senate begins to hear them.”
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham praised McConnell’s proposal to postpone the trial until February and said he met with McConnell on Thursday.
“We’ve looked at pre-trial periods historically. The difference is that there was really no contribution in the House, it was a sudden impeachment. But when you look at the time periods involved, it’s very similar to what we did in the past,” Graham said to reporters.
Graham confirmed that attorney Butch Bowers is joining Trump’s legal team as “the anchor tenant”. Graham praised Butcher as a “solid guy”. The South Carolina senator said he did not know whether Trump would attend the trial, but recommended not.
“The president is looking forward to doing that,” said Graham. “He believes it is unconstitutional and undermines his presidency, but you know, he will have his day in court and that is how the system works.”
Trump’s impeachment Chamber last week, on January 13, with 10 Republicans joining the Democrats.
At the moment, senators are scheduled to work in their states during the week of February 15 for President’s Day, which can complicate the schedule.
At the moment, the Senate is also working to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominees. Democratic Senator Chris Coons told CNN on Thursday that Democrats could face a slight delay in the trial if progress is made in confirming the nominees.
“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 in confirming the talented, experienced and diverse team that President Joe Biden has appointed to serve in his office, “said Coons.
McConnell did not publicly say whether he supports or opposes impeachment, although he did say that the crowd that attacked the Capitol was “provoked by the president”.