Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is proposing giving former President Donald Trump until early February to prepare for an impeachment trial in the congressional upper chamber, Politico reported citing unidentified sources.
McConnell, R-Kentucky, briefed fellow Republicans of his idea to offer to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on a conference call Thursday, Politico said quoting two people familiar with the call.
Trump was impeached for a second time on Jan. 13, with all House Democrats and 10 Republicans voting for a single count of “incitement to insurrection” for speaking to a rally of supporters before the U.S. Capitol was breached a week earlier. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has yet to send the article to the Senate.
President Joe Biden called for “unity” in his inauguration speech on Wednesday, a concept former Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro suggested was laughable if the Democrats pursue a trial.
“That’s gone, that’s off the table,” the 71-year-old Navarro, a Democrat turned Republican economist, said on the “War Room” podcast on Wednesday. “This will be a 50–50 country. The gap between us will be a chasm. There will be nothing but friction.”
Pelosi, on Thursday, said the trial was needed for unity.
“The fact is, the president of the United States committed an act of incitement of insurrection,” Pelosi said. “I don't think it's very unifying to say, 'Oh, let's just forget it and move on.' That's not how you unify.”
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