The leader of the Democratic majority in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, said that the questioning of former President Donald Trump in the House will take place in the week beginning on the eighth of February next, while President Joe Biden signed new decisions to confront the economic repercussions of the Corona virus pandemic on American families.
Schumer added that the prosecution team will present the indictment against Trump next Monday, and the leader of the Democrats in the Senate stressed that the trial will take place despite attempts to delay it, and it will be fair, as he described.
On the other hand, the American website "The Hill" quoted a spokesman for the Republican minority leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, that postponing Trump's trial until February 8 is "a victory for justice."
McConnell had earlier called for the trial to be postponed, and said in a statement that "at this time of political tension, Republicans believe it is imperative not to disrupt the legal due process that former President Trump deserves."
Trump's readiness
Republicans in Congress defended the postponement of the trial of former President Trump in the Senate until next February, claiming to ensure the integrity of the procedures, and to give Trump's defense time to prepare.
On the other hand, US media attributed to prominent Republican Senator Lindsey Graham as saying that Trump had agreed with attorney Butch Bowers to represent him at the trial.
The indictment against Trump, which was approved by the House of Representatives a few days ago, includes one charge of "incitement to revolt" in connection with his supporters 'storming of the Capitol Building (Congress) on January 6, to obstruct lawmakers' approval of Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election. .
If Trump is convicted in this trial, he will be prevented from holding any federal office, meaning that he will not be able to return to the presidency again.
Democrats have a very slight majority in the Senate, while approval of Trump's conviction requires a vote of two-thirds of the members of the House, which means the need for many Republicans to support the Democratic majority in this vote.
Biden decisions
On the other hand, US President Joe Biden signed, on Friday, new executive orders, in the third day of his presidential term, related to social rights and immediate food aid to face the repercussions of the Corona pandemic.
The executive orders focus on providing relief to families who are unable to purchase food, the unemployed, and those who have yet to receive financial aid, and on raising the minimum income for federal employees to $ 15 an hour.
Biden said that the current health crisis has caused the largest economic crisis and the largest job disparity crisis in recent history, and made clear that he had developed a two-step rescue and recovery plan to face the crisis.
The new US president stressed that his administration has taken swift measures to help Americans affected by the Corona pandemic, and said, "We will not allow people to go hungry or expelled from their homes because of something they are not responsible for."
Local extremism
Separately, White House spokeswoman Jane Saki said that the rise of domestic extremism poses an increasing threat to US national security, stressing that the Biden administration will face this threat with all necessary resources, and Saki added that the president has mandated his administration to prepare a comprehensive assessment of the threat of domestic terrorism in the wake of the storming of supporters. Trump's Congress building is a symbol of American democracy.
The White House spokeswoman said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence would prepare the assessment, in cooperation with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
In the area of foreign policy, a spokesman for the US State Department said on Friday that the ministry has begun reviewing the classification of the Houthi group in Yemen as a terrorist organization, and is working as quickly as possible to end the process and make a decision.
Last Tuesday, the administration of former President Donald Trump announced the decision to classify the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, a decision that raised the objection of Western countries and the United Nations, due to the expected damage from this classification to the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemenis and finding a political solution to the war in the country.