Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to delay the impeachment trial for Donald Trump until the week of February 8th. This came after a back and forth with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell was trying to move back the trial for a couple of weeks to give the former president’s new attorney time to prepare. But Friday morning, Schumer initially rejected that saying Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will deliver the article of impeachment to the Senate on Monday. That will still take place, but late Friday Schumer announced that he reached an agreement with Republicans. The AP reports:
Under the timeline, the House will transmit the impeachment article against Trump late Monday, with initial proceedings Tuesday.
From there, Trump’s legal team will have time to prepare the case before opening arguments begin in February.
7p Monday the House will bring the article over to the Senate, per Schumer. Members will be sworn in Tuesday, Jan. 26. Then there will be a period of time to draft legal briefs. During that period, the Senate will work on nominations, he said. Then trial will begin Feb. 8 week
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 22, 2021
Trump just retained legal representation this week. His previous impeachment team declined to represent him this time around, but Thursday we learned South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers will represent him. The Post and Courier out of Charleston, South Carolina writes:
Bowers, who has represented the past two South Carolina governors at ethics hearings, is no stranger to impeachment proceedings. He worked for then-Gov. Mark Sanford when lawmakers considered impeaching him after he left the state to see his mistress in Argentina in 2009.
Sen. Lindsey Graham via pooler @alanhe: “Butch Bowers I think will be the sort of the anchor tenant” on President Trump’s impeachment defense team.
“I’ve known Butch for a long time, solid guy. And I think, you know, over time they'll put the team together.”
— Zach C. Cohen (@Zachary_Cohen) January 21, 2021
