Impeachment Trial Set to Begin Feb. 9
The U.S. Senate will begin an impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump on Feb. 9, following an agreement between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The House of Representatives was due to transmit the articles of impeachment on Jan. 25, which would have customarily immediately triggered the start of the trial. However, both Democrats and Republicans found reason to delay the start by a couple of weeks. President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats want to confirm Biden’s cabinet picks, and immediately beginning the trial would have delayed that effort.
Republicans had argued that the former president would need some time for his attorneys to prepare a defense to the impeachment charge that he willfully incited the attack on the U.S. Capitol building that occurred Jan. 6. Trump’s defense team will be led by South Carolina attorney Karl Smith "Butch" Bowers, who defended former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford when he was threatened with impeachment by the state legislature in 2009.
The House this week will also begin work on drafting a COVID relief package based on Biden’s $1.9 trillion proposal. Both Senate Republicans and some centrist Democrats have raised concerns regarding provisions in the proposal that are not strictly related to the pandemic, such as the proposed increase in the minimum wage, but which are important for progressive House Democrats.