US House to deliver Trump impeachment to Senate on Jan 25

Washington, Jan 23 US Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said on Friday that the House will deliver the impeachment article against former President Donald Trump to the upper chamber on Monday, January 25, triggering preparations for a trial that could start as early as next week.

"Make no mistake, a trial will be held in the United States Senate and there will be a vote whether to convict the President. I've spoken to Speaker Pelosi, who informed me that the articles will be delivered to the Senate on Monday," Schumer said from the Senate floor.

"It will be a full trial," Schumer said.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, proposed on Thursday that Trump's impeachment trial be delayed until mid-February so as to give him enough time to prepare a defence, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Schumer's announcement puts a new deadline for the Senate leaders to reach a stalled agreement over the Senate's power-sharing, as the impeachment logistics are part of a broader negotiation including topics like the filibuster, said a report.

Schumer said on Friday that McConnell's insistence the Senate's organising resolution include a provision protecting the filibuster was "unacceptable and it won't be accepted."

Earlier this month, McConnell told Republican senators that under the Senate's impeachment rules, a trial is required to begin the day after the House managers present the articles of impeachment to the upper chamber.

The Democrats-controlled House voted to impeach Trump over "incitement of insurrection" in a 232-197 vote on January 13, making him the first President to be impeached twice.

The impeachment resolution cited Trump's speech to supporters on January 6 that was followed by some of the crowd breaching the Capitol building to interrupt Congress' certification of the 2020 election results as evidence of his "incitement of insurrection."

( With inputs from IANS )