House to transmit Article of Impeachment to Senate on Monday

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer: "It will be a fair trial. But make no mistake, there will be a trial."

• By Kelsey Snell/NPR

(Washington) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the sole article of impeachment for incitement to insurrection against former President Donald Trump will be delivered to the Senate on Monday, a move that would trigger the start of a Senate trial against Trump.

“The Senate will conduct a trial on the impeachment of Donald Trump,” Schumer said Friday on the Senate floor. “It will be a fair trial. But make no mistake, there will be a trial.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who must deliver the article, confirmed the move in a statement Friday. Once the article is transmitted, the trial process begins with notices sent and briefs requested of the two sides.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he had requested that Democrats wait until Jan. 28 to allow Trump’s legal team more time to prepare and to give the Senate more floor time before the trial consumes its calendar. He criticized the Democrats’ decision to move ahead with the process on the quicker timeline.

“This impeachment began with an unprecedentedly fast and minimal process in the House,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “The sequel cannot be an insufficient Senate process that denies former President Trump his due process or damages the Senate or the presidency itself.”