House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will send the article of impeachment against former president Donald Trump to the Senate early next week, meaning that preparations for the impeachment trial will soon begin.
Speaking on the Senate floor Friday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that the article of impeachment will be delivered on Monday.
“It will be a full trial, it will be a fair trial," Schumer said. "Senators will have to decide whether they believe Donald John Trump incited the insurrection."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Thursday proposed pushing back the start of Trump’s impeachment trial to February to give him time to prepare and review his case.
"Senate Republicans are strongly united behind the principle that the institution of the Senate, the office of the presidency, and former President Trump himself all deserve a full and fair process that respects his rights and the serious factual, legal, and constitutional questions at stake," McConnell said in a statement Thursday night.
"Given the unprecedented speed of the House’s process, our proposed timeline for the initial phases includes a modest and reasonable amount of additional time for both sides to assemble their arguments before the Senate would begin to hear them," the Kentucky GOP leader added.
The House voted to impeach Trump last week, following the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, on a single charge of "inciting violence against the government of the United States."
Trump is the only president in history to be impeached twice.