Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Friday that the impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump will begin on the week of Feb. 8.
Schumer announced the schedule after reaching an agreement with Republicans to have the trial in February. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had proposed delaying the trial until February to give Trump’s legal team time to prepare.
Under the timeline, the House will transmit the impeachment article against Trump late Jan. 25, with initial proceedings on Jan. 26, but opening arguments will be pushed to February.
“We all want to put this awful chapter in our nation’s history behind us,” Schumer said on Friday of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. “But healing and unity will only come if there is truth and accountability. And that is what this trial will provide.”
He added that there will be “a full trial,“ and ”it will be a fair trial.”
It marked the first time in U.S. history that a president has been impeached twice. It is also the first time a former president faces an impeachment trial after leaving office.
Trump left office on Jan. 20, but Senate leaders are determined to press forward. If convicted, senators can then choose to disqualify him from ever holding office in the future.
No president in U.S. history has ever been convicted, which would require a supermajority vote. Democrats hold 50 seats in the Senate and Republicans also hold 50. A handful of Republicans have said they’re open to convicting Trump, including McConnell.
“Butch is well respected by both Republicans and Democrats and will do an excellent job defending President Trump,” adviser Jason Miller announced in a Twitter post.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Trump is still forming a legal team but that Bowers would act as the “anchor.”
