Washington:
Donald Trump’s US Senate trial will start in the second week of February, days soon after a fresh impeachment case against the former president is transmitted by the House, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer mentioned Friday.
The newly announced schedule reflects a deal struck by Senate leaders to delay the substantive portion of the trial for two weeks so that the chamber might conduct other important enterprise like confirmation of President Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees.
The House of Representatives impeached Trump for a historic second time on January 13, just a single week ahead of he left workplace.
Schumer mentioned the report of impeachment will be delivered and study out to the Senate on Monday at 7:00 pm (0000 GMT Tuesday). The chamber’s one hundred members will be sworn in as trial jurors the next day.
The House members assigned by Speaker Nancy Pelosi as impeachment managers, and members of Trump’s but-to-be-named defense group, will then be provided time to draft their legal briefs.
“Once the briefs are drafted, presentation by the parties will commence the week of February 8,” Schumer told colleagues on the Senate floor.
During the two-week interim, the Senate will act on Biden’s cabinet nominations “and the Covid relief bill which would provide relief for millions of American who are suffering during this pandemic,” Schumer added.
“Healing and unity will only come if there is truth and accountability, and that is what this trial will provide.”
Members will deliberate whether or not to convict Trump on what the US Constitution describes as “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Trump was impeached on a single charge of “incitement of insurrection” for his function in whipping up his supporters in the course of a speech in Washington on January 6, the day a pro-Trump mob stormed Congress and threatened the lives of lawmakers and then-vice president Mike Pence.
Five men and women died in the violence, like a police officer.
– ‘Unprecedentedly fast’ –
The delay is the outcome of a deal Schumer struck with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
McConnell was a close congressional ally to Trump in the course of his term, but he severely reprimanded the outgoing president for repeatedly searching for to overturn outcomes of the election and for his incitement of protesters, and he left the door open for voting to convict Trump.
But he had sought a delay in the trial till February, arguing Trump demands time to employ lawyers and mount a defense.
On Friday, McConnell appeared to express regret for the Democrats’ speedy timetable.
“As I understand, it must be headed our way Monday. By Senate rules, if the article arrives, we have to start a trial right then,” he mentioned on the floor.
But the Senate can agree to its personal parameters of the trial timeline.
McConnell spoke of the “unprecedentedly fast” procedure in the House, exactly where Trump was impeached in a single day.
“The sequel cannot be an insufficient Senate process that denies former president Trump his due process or damages the Senate or the presidency itself,” he mentioned.
Trump survived a initial impeachment pretty much a year ago when the then Republican-controlled Senate acquitted him of abusing his workplace to attempt to get dirt on Biden’s loved ones ahead of the presidential election.
With the Senate now comprised of 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, and a two-thirds majority necessary to convict Trump, at least 17 Republicans would have to vote against the former president to safe a conviction.
If that happens, a subsequent vote would be held on whether or not to ban Trump from holding public workplace in the future.
A handful of Republicans have spoken out harshly against the president but it remains unclear if there would be sufficient GOP senators to vote for conviction.
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