WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is proposing to postpone the start of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial until February to give the former president time to prepare and review his case.
House Democrats who voted to accuse Trump last week of inciting the deadly Capitol Revolt on Jan. 6 have indicated they want to go to trial quickly as President Joe Biden begins his term, saying a calculation is needed. complete before the country and Congress can move forward.
But McConnell, in a statement Thursday evening, suggested a broader timetable that would allow the House to broadcast the dismissal article next week, Jan. 28, beginning the first phase of the trial. The Senate would then give the President’s defense team and House prosecutors two weeks to file writs. The trial arguments would probably begin in mid-February.
“Senate Republicans are strongly united behind the principle that the Senate institution, the office of the presidency, and President Trump himself deserve a full and fair process that respects their rights and serious factual, legal, and constitutional issues in game “. “Especially given the unprecedented speed of the House process, McConnell said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., is reviewing the plan and will discuss it with McConnell, a spokesman said. The two leaders are also negotiating how the new 50-50 Senate will work and how they will balance other priorities.
A delay in the trial could attract some Democrats, as it would give the Senate more time to confirm candidates for the Biden Council of Ministers and debate a new round of coronavirus relief. Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a key ally of the president, told CNN that Democrats would consider a delay “if we are moving forward in confirming the very talented, experienced and diverse team that President Joe Biden has nominated “.
The highest power over time rests with the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who can trigger the start of the trial at any time by sending the Senate the charge of inciting an insurrection. The California Democrat has yet to say when she will do so.
“It simply came to our notice then. I don’t think it will take long, but we have to do it, “Pelosi said Thursday. He said Trump does not deserve a” prison release card “just because he has left office and Biden and others are calling for national unity.
Facing his second impeachment trial in two years, Trump began assembling his defense team by hiring attorney Butch Bowers to represent him, according to an advisor. Bowers was previously an advisor to former South Carolina governors. Nikki Haley and Mark Sanford.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina helped Trump find Bowers after members of his previous legal teams indicated they had no plans to join the new effort. Trump is at a disadvantage compared to his first trial, in which he had all the resources of the White House attorney’s office to defend him.
Pelosi’s nine dismissal managers, who will be prosecuting the House case, have met regularly to discuss the strategy. Pelosi said he will talk to them “in the coming days” about when the Senate could be ready for a trial.
Shortly before the Jan. 6 insurgency, Trump told thousands of his supporters at a rally near the White House to “fight like hell” against the election results Congress certified. A crowd marched towards the Capitol and ran in, interrupting the count. Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died in the chaos and the House accused Trump a week later, with 10 Republicans joining all Democrats in support.
Pelosi said it would be “detrimental to unity” to forget that “the people died here on January 6, the attempt to undermine our elections, to undermine our democracy, to dishonor our Constitution.”
Trump was acquitted by the Republican-led Senate in his first impeachment trial. The White House legal team, aided by Trump’s personal lawyers, aggressively fought allegations by the House that it had encouraged the Ukrainian president to investigate Biden in exchange for military aid. This time, Pelosi pointed out, the House does not intend to condemn the president for private talks, but for a very public uprising that they themselves experienced and that took place on live television.
“This year, everyone witnessed the president’s incitement,” Pelosi said.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said it was still too early to know how long a trial would take or if Democrats want to call witnesses. But he said, “You don’t have to tell us what happened to the mafia scene we ran down the stairs to escape.”
McConnell, who said this week that Trump “provoked” his supporters before the riot, has not said how he will vote. He told his Republican Party colleagues that it will be a vote of conscience.
Democrats would need the support of at least 17 Republicans to condemn Trump, a high bar. While a handful of Senate Republicans have indicated they are open to sentencing, most have said they believe a trial will be divisive and have questioned the legality of judging a president after he leaves office.
Graham said if he were Trump’s attorney, he would focus on that argument and the merits of the case and whether it was “incitement” under the law.
“I guess the public record is your TV screen,” Graham said. “So I don’t see why it would take so long.”
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Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard in Columbia, SC, and Jill Colvin in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.