Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is expected to propose that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) begin the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in February, according to a report.
CBS News reports:
This would give impeachment managers and Mr. Trump’s defense at least a week to prepare. McConnell floated the proposal to GOP senators on a caucus conference call Thursday. It’s not yet clear what date in February McConnell is proposing. He had already said he would not take up a trial immediately after the House impeached Mr. Trump, and Democrats now control the Senate. […] The House has yet to send the single article of impeachment for incitement of insurrection to the Senate.
The report comes after McConnell accused Trump of stoking the recent riot at the U.S. Capitol, in which five people died, including a police officer. “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding … which they did not like,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech. “But we pressed on. We stood together and said an angry mob would not get veto power over the rule of law in our nation.”
McConnell has said that he has not decided on how he will vote in the upcoming trial, though some reports indicate that he may have trouble holding on to his long-held leadership post if he opts to convict former President Trump.
“If he does, I don’t know if he can stay as leader,” one unnamed senior Republican senator said, reported CNN. The lawmaker told the news outlet that “several of his colleagues held similar views and asked not to be named discussing sensitive internal politics.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) stated that he could no longer support McConnell as Senate leader if he voted to convict the former president.
“No, no, no,” said Johnson when asked. “I don’t even think we should be having a trial.”