UPDATED, 3:47 PM PT: The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump will start the week of February 8, giving time for the former president’s team to prepare its defense and for the Senate to confirm Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gave the timeline on Friday. The article of impeachment against Trump will be delivered to the Senate on Monday, and impeachment managers will read the charge against him, for inciting the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
PREVIOUSLY: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that an Article of Impeachment against former President Donald Trump will be delivered to the Senate on Monday, meaning that a trial could start as soon as next week.
On the floor of the Senate, Schumer, the new majority leader, said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had informed him of the plans. Trump was impeached for the second time last week on a charge of inciting the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
“Now I have heard some of my Republican colleagues argue that this trial would be unconstitutional because Donald Trump is no longer in office, an argument that has been roundly repudiated, debunked, by hundreds of constitutional scholars,” Schumer said.
The delivery of the article triggers a process for a Senate trial. It’s unclear when it will begin. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has proposed a delay to mid-February to give Trump’s legal team time to prepare.
“There will be a trial,” Schumer said.
Schumer also rejected McConnell’s request that Democrats retain the legislative filibuster, something that means that major legislation requires a 60-vote threshold to proceed. McConnell and Schumer are trying to reach an agreement on rules for the new Senate, complicated by the fact that the chamber is split between the parties 50-50.
Trump was impeached in a vote of 232-197, with 10 Republicans joining with all Democrats on the article.
Pelosi confirmed the timeline in a statement. “We are respectful of the Senate’s constitutional power over the trial and always attentive to the fairness of the process, noting that the former president will have had the same amount of time to prepare for trial as our Managers, she said. “Our Managers are ready to begin to make their case to 100 Senate jurors through the trial process.”