The leaders of the U.S. Senate agreed on Friday to push back former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial by two weeks, giving the chamber more time to focus on President Joe Biden's legislative agenda and Cabinet nominees before turning to the contentious showdown over Trump.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said the trial is set to begin during the week of Monday Feb. 8, an arrangement praised by the chamber's top Republican, Mitch McConnell.
The House of Representatives is due to formally deliver to the Senate on Monday the impeachment charge accusing Trump of inciting an insurrection, a move that ordinarily would have triggered the beginning of the trial within a day. The charge stems from Trump's incendiary speech to supporters before they stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 in a rampage that delayed the formal congressional certification of Biden's election victory and left five people dead, including a police officer.