参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)周四在与参议院新多数党领袖查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)的会议上，提议推迟对前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的弹劾审判。
这一延迟旨在给仍在崛起的特朗普法律团队时间做准备。
麦康奈尔在一份声明中说:“参议院共和党人强烈团结一致，支持这样一项原则，即参议院机构、总统办公室和前总统特朗普本人都应该得到一个充分和公平的程序，尊重他的权利以及严重的事实、法律和宪法问题。”
他写道，他的提议包括“适度和合理的”额外时间供双方准备论点——提出一个拟议的时间表，传票将于1月28日提交，随后特朗普将于2月4日作出回应，前总统将于2月11日提交审前简报。
印第安纳州参议员迈克·布劳恩(Mike Braun)说:“根据我从今天的谈话中了解到的情况，审判要到2月中旬才会开始，因为这个过程在众议院发生，发展得太快了，不符合参议院审判中准备辩护所需的时间。”，周四下午说。
“我认为，为了公平对待任何被指控犯有可弹劾罪行的人，需要一些公平的程序，”德克萨斯州参议员约翰·科宁说。
J.斯科特·阿普尔怀特/美联社
参议员米奇·麦康奈尔。参议院最高共和党人，在副议长之后离开议院
随着他的法律团队的充实，特朗普的顾问杰森·米勒证实，布奇·鲍尔斯将在即将到来的弹劾审判中加入特朗普的辩护。
“很高兴地宣布，哥伦比亚SC的布奇·鲍尔斯加入了特朗普总统的法律团队。布奇深受共和党人和民主党人的尊敬，他将出色地为特朗普总统辩护发微博。
周四早些时候，众议院议长南希·佩洛西告诉记者，众议院和参议院“准备好”继续进行王牌s秒弹劾但是她说，由于关于审判如何运作的问题，这些文章的传播受到了阻碍。
“我不会告诉你什么时候...他们现在已经准备好接受，但是还有其他的问题需要解决。但我们已经准备好了，”她说。“很快，就像我说的你会第一个知道的。”
“很快就会，我认为不会很久，但我们必须这样做，”她说。
尼古拉斯·卡姆/法新社通过盖蒂图像
众议院议长南希·佩洛西在华盛顿国会山的每周新闻发布会上发言
佩洛西驳斥了共和党人的担忧，即弹劾可能会在就职典礼后这么快分裂立法者。
佩洛西说:“说‘让我们忘记它，继续前进’并不是真正的统一。
“感谢上帝，仅仅因为他走了，我们不会对总统说，‘在你执政的最后几个月里，你想做什么就做什么。’...因为人们想变得更好...我认为这对团结是有害的。”
在……上证人问题，佩洛西听从了众议院的管理人员，但区分了特朗普第一次审判和即将到来的审判所需的证据。
“我确实看到了我们都目睹过的一些事情与你可能需要哪些信息来证实一篇弹劾文章之间的巨大差异，在很大程度上是基于总统打来的一个电话...但这取决于他们。
舒默周四重申，将进行弹劾审判，但他和少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔仍在努力就规则达成一致。
汤姆·布伦纳/路透社
纽约州参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)离开办公室，前往与弗雷斯的拍照现场
“议长佩洛西将决定她什么时候把文章送过去。领导人麦康奈尔和我正试图就如何进行审判达成两党协议。但别搞错了，”舒默说。“将会有一次审判，将会有一次投票，决定是否给总统定罪。”
在白宫，新闻秘书珍·普萨基否认审判对执行乔·拜登总统的议程构成问题:“然而，我们相信，就像美国人民一样，参议院也可以同时处理多项任务。他们可以在继续为美国人民服务的同时，履行他们的宪法义务。
佩洛西也不排除国会议员在国会山骚乱的任何调查中受到调查的行为，指责一些议员向暴徒提供“援助和安慰”。
在拜登的就职典礼上，她说，“一天有多么不同啊”。“在我看来，它是如此完美。”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to propose delay of Trump impeachment trial
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has proposed a delay of former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial Thursday in a meeting with new Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The delay is designed to give the still-emerging Trump legal team time to prepare.
"Senate Republicans are strongly united behind the principle that the institution of the Senate, the office of the presidency, and former President Trump himself all deserve a full and fair process that respects his rights and the serious factual, legal, and constitutional questions at stake," McConnell said in a statement.
He wrote that his proposal includes a "modest and reasonable amount" of additional time for sides to prepare arguments -- laying out a proposed timeline that the writ of summons would be filed Jan. 28, followed by a Trump response by Feb. 4 and a pretrial brief due from the former president by Feb. 11.
"From what I understand from today's conversation, is [the trial] does not get started until sometime mid-February due to the fact that the process, as it occurred in the House, evolved so quickly, and that it is not in line with the time you need to prepare for a defense in a Senate trial," Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., said Thursday afternoon.
"I think, in fairness to anybody who's accused of impeachable offenses, there needs to be some fair process," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
As his legal team fills out, Trump adviser Jason Miller confirmed that Butch Bowers will be joining Trump's defense in the upcoming impeachment trial.
"Excited to announce that Columbia, SC-based Butch Bowers has joined President Trump’s legal team. Butch is well respected by both Republicans and Democrats and will do an excellent job defending President Trump," Millertweeted.
Earlier Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters that the House and Senate are "ready" to proceed withTrump's secondimpeachmenttrial, but she said transmission of the articles is being held up by questions about how the trial would work.
"I’m not going to be telling you when it is going ... they are now ready to receive, but there are other questions of how a trial to proceed. But we are ready," she said. "It will be soon, as I said you will be the first to know."
"It will be soon, I don’t think it will be long, but we must do it,” she said.
Pelosi dismissed Republicans' concerns that impeachment could divide lawmakers so soon after the inauguration.
"It's not really unifying to say, let's just forget it, and move on," Pelosi said.
"Just because he is gone, thank God, we don't say to a president, 'Do whatever you want in the last months of your administration ... because people want to make nice nice,' ... I think that would be harmful for unity."
On thequestion of witnesses,Pelosi deferred to the House managers, but differentiated between the evidence needed for Trump's first trial, and this upcoming one.
"I do see a big difference between something that we all witnessed, versus what information you might need to substantiate an article of impeachment based in large part on a phone call the president made ... but it’s up to them," referring to the managers.
Schumer reaffirmed Thursday that there will be an impeachment trial and but that he and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are still working to agree on the rules.
"Speaker Pelosi will determine when she will send the articles over. Leader McConnell and I are trying to come up with a bipartisan agreement on how to conduct the trial. But make no mistake about it," Schumer said. "There will be a trial, there will be a vote, up or down or whether to convict the president."
At the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki denied the trial poses a problem for pursuing President Joe Biden's agenda: "We are confident, though, that just like the American people can, the Senate can also multitask. And they can do their constitutional duty while continuing to conduct the business of the American people," she said Wednesday.
Pelosi also didn't rule out the conduct of lawmakers coming under investigation in any probe of the Capitol Hill riot, accusing some members of giving "aid and comfort" to rioters.
On Biden's inauguration she said, "What a difference a day makes," she said. "It was so perfect, in my view."
