Trump's Second Impeachment Trial To Begin In February

The House will transmit the article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced.
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The House will transmit the article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate on Monday, triggering the start of his second impeachment trial, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Friday.

However, the actual impeachment trial won’t begin until Feb. 9 in order to allow time to confirm President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees and pass additional coronavirus relief.

“There will be a trial, and when that trial ends, senators will have to decide whether Donald John Trump incited the insurrection against the United States,” Schumer said in a floor speech, referring to the violent mob that ransacked the Capitol earlier this month.

According to the Constitution, the Senate had been required to begin the impeachment trial at 1 p.m. the day after the article was transmitted from the House, but there’s an exception if a different schedule is set by unanimous agreement. The chamber will begin the formal process Feb. 8 by receiving the House impeachment managers and reading the impeachment article, then the actual arguments will start.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had proposed the later start date to the trial in order to allow Trump more time to organize his defense. The Kentucky Republican, who has left the door open to voting to convict Trump, said on Friday that the former president is owed a “full and fair process,” adding that he deserves “due process” after a quick impeachment vote in House.

Democrats view the case against Trump as more open-and-shut. They say his words before and during a rally in Washington on Jan. 6 incited a violent mob to storm the U.S. Capitol in hopes of stopping the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.

“It makes no sense whatsoever that a president, or any official, could commit a heinous crime against our country and then be permitted to resign so as to avoid accountability,” Schumer said Friday.

The bar for conviction in the Senate is extremely high: two-thirds of the chamber. Many Republicans have already come out against voting to convict Trump on procedural grounds, arguing that doing so is unconstitutional because the trial will occur after Trump has left office. However, there is some precedent for Congress impeaching officials even after they have stepped down.

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