Trump’s impeachment trial stalled in US Senate

The second impeachment trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump may not begin until mid-February, to give him time to prepare a defense against charges of inciting insurrection.

Republican senators sought the delay after Democrats earlier in the day said that the House of Representatives could send the impeachment charge – passed last week in response to the deadly storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters – to the Senate as early as Friday.

Trump, a Republican, left office on Wednesday and flew to his Florida resort, hours before Democrat Joe Biden was sworn in.

Trump is the only U.S. president to have been impeached twice, and his trial in the Senate will be the only one ever to have taken place after a president has left office.

Trump has hired South Carolina-based lawyer Butch Bowers to represent him in his Senate impeachment trial, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.