McConnell Bids to Put Off Trump’s Impeachment Trial for Weeks

Senate GOP leader proposes Pelosi delay sending impeachment
Timeline may let bipartisan outrage over Trump cool down

Mitch McConnell walks to his office at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 21.Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg

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By Steven T. Dennis, Laura Litvan, and Billy House

January 22, 2021 at 2:00 AM EST

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Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell challenged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to delay triggering an impeachment trial for Donald Trump until next month, a timetable that may cool some of the bipartisan outrage that erupted over the former president’s stoking of the mob that stormed the Capitol two weeks ago.

McConnell laid out his proposal Thursday as a matter of fairness to the former president who is still assembling a defense team. But it also comes as negotiations he’s holding with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on power sharing in a 50-50 Senate drag on and most of President Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees are still waiting for confirmation.

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