US Senate Approves Timeline for Trump's Impeachment Trial

The upper chamber sets the structure and schedule of the impeachment against the former president, which begins this Tuesday.

The U.S. Senate agreed on Monday the structure and schedule that will follow the impeachment trial initiated in the House of Representatives against former President Donald Trump, a process which begins on Tuesday.

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The announcement was brought by the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, who detailed that it has been a consensual decision with the Republican leader in the Upper House, Mitch McConnell, and with Trump's lawyers, which allowed reaching a "bipartisan solution."

The agreed structure "will ensure a fair and honest political trial of the former president in the Senate," the Democrat said, according to "The Hill," a U.S. publication specializing in legislative issues.

McConnell, for his part, said he was "pleased" to have reached an agreement with his Democratic counterpart for a "fair process and an estimated timetable for the next trial in the Senate," which "will give the senators" in their role as jurors "enough time to receive the case and the arguments."

Likewise, both the prosecution and defense will have 16 hours over two days to present their case, and the schedule would allow the trial to end next week if both sides agree not to call witnesses, which is not decided now and will only be voted on Sunday.

As a first step, this Tuesday, the Senate will vote on the constitutionality of the "impeachment," whose rejection, because he is no longer president, is the main argument of Donald Trump's defense, while on Wednesday, the opening arguments will begin.

After presenting arguments by the two sides, the Senate is expected to have four more hours to ask questions to both the defense and the prosecution. In the end, the two sides will have two hours to present final arguments.

Finally, "we will vote on the impeachment article. And if the former president is convicted, we will proceed to vote on whether he is qualified to enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit in the United States," Schumer explained.

Trump is facing his second impeachment trial, this time for "incitement to insurrection" and his role in the assault on the Capitol by his supporters on January 6 during the confirmation session of Joe Biden's victory in the November elections.