On Monday, January 25th, the House delivered an article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate in connection with his involvement to the incitement of the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol.

The House impeached Trump on January 13th for a historic second time. He is being charged with provoking a crowd of pro-Trump protesters into breaching and trashing the Capitol after holding a rally at the Ellipse in front of the White House.

Senators who will act as jurors in the trial were sworn in on Tuesday. The actual trial will not begin until February 9th, giving Trump and his defense team two weeks to prepare for the trial. An aide to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “the delay will ensure Trump has due process.” The two week period will allow for other Senate business to continue, like the confirmation of President Biden’s Cabinet nominees.

“There are three essential items on our plate: the trial of President Trump now that the House has impeached him; bold, strong COVID relief; and approving the president’s Cabinet,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to reporters on Sunday. “The Senate must advance all three in the next few weeks, and we will. The stakes are too high to delay any of them…[The trial] will be fair, but it will move at a relatively fast pace.”

Republican senators have spoken against the trial, stating that it is unconstitutional to hold an impeachment trial for a president who is already out of office. “I think the trial is stupid…I think it’s counterproductive,” said Florida Senator Marco Rubio on Fox News Sunday. “We already have a flaming fire in this country and it’s like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire.”

The Former Presidents Act of 1958 states that presidents are entitled to receive a pension, government paid staff, government paid office space and furniture, a one million annual budget for security and travel and a $500,000 annual budget for their spouses security and travel after leaving office. If Trump is found guilty of incitement he would be stripped of some presidential perks, he would lose his 200k pension for the rest of his life, as well as the 1 million dollar per year travel allowance. He would also lose his secret service for life detail and the ability to run in the 2024 presidential election.