Trump spokesman Jason Miller confirmed Mr Bowers role as a Trump legal adviser on Thursday. Butch is well respected by both Republicans and Democrats and will do an excellent job defending President Trump, he said.
Mr Bowers did not respond to phone calls and emails sent to his law office on Thursday.
Senate Democrats who took the majority on Wednesday with the swearing-in of three new senators and the inauguration of Vice President Kamala Harris did not respond immediately to Senator McConnells proposal. But there are reasons to believe Democrats would be amenable to a delay, given the need for the Senate to process President Bidens cabinet nominations.
As of Thursday, only one Biden nominee Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines had been confirmed, though the leaders of the Departments of Defence, State and the Treasury appeared poised for approval in the coming days.
On the other hand, Senator McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer remain at loggerheads over how the 50-50 Senate will operate, which has contributed to the uncertainty over the confirmation of Mr Bidens nominees.
A Schumer spokesman said Senator McConnells proposed pre-trial schedule which would allow for a trial to begin February 15 is under review.
In any case, the single impeachment article for incitement of insurrection has yet to make its way across the Capitol from the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi continued to be coy about when the impeachment resolution would be sent over to the Senate, prompting the trial to start.
Shorter than the first
One thing lawmakers of both parties appear to agree on is that Mr Trumps second impeachment trial need not approach the 21-day length of his first trial, which ended in February in acquittal on two articles related to his efforts to leverage foreign aid to prompt Ukraine to launch an investigation into Mr Biden a request he made to the Ukrainian president in a crucial July 2019 phone call.
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 call the president made and described as perfect, Ms Pelosi said on Thursday.
The House Democrats lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin said on Thursday that he did not know how long the trial would take.
But I dont think it will take as long as the last one, he said.
Senator Graham agreed that few facts were in dispute but said many Republican senators would be deciding whether it was constitutional to try an ex-president on impeachment charges. Even if all 50 Democrats vote to convict Mr Trump, at least 17 Republicans would have to join them to secure a conviction and set up a simple-majority vote on whether to bar Trump from future office.
Well make our own decisions about: Did the president go too far? Was this incitement under the law? Whats the right outcome there? So it should be a quick trial, really, quite frankly, he said. I dont think the country needs a whole lot.
After losing the election, Mr Trump not only challenged the results in courts and enlisted legislators to question his defeat, but also summoned his supporters to Washington on January 6 the day of the final tallying of electoral votes by Congress and appeared at a rally that day urging them to march to the Capitol.
That behaviour prompted Senator McConnell to rebuke Mr Trump on the Senate floor on Tuesday the last full day of Trumps presidency. The mob was fed lies, he said, adding that the rioters had been provoked by the president and other powerful people.
Most of the GOP still back Trump
Still, the vast majority of Republican voters remain solidly behind Mr Trump, looking past his role in promoting the false claim that he, not Mr Biden, had won the 2020 presidential election.
The split-screen was on view on Thursday on the other side of the Capitol, where House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters he did not agree with McConnells assessment I dont believe he provoked, if you listen to what he said at the rally and defended Mr Trumps place in the GOP.
This president brought a lot of great success, he said. He brought people to the party that hadnt been involved in it before. And he should continue to engage in that way … He listened to voices that no one else was hearing, in either party.
The comments appeared to be a retreat from McCarthys remarks last week on the House floor ahead of the impeachment vote, when he said Mr Trump bears responsibility for the Capitol attack and deserved censure.
House Republicans are dealing with ongoing dissension over the bipartisan impeachment vote in which 10 Republicans, including Conference Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming, joined Democrats in rebuking Mr Trump.
Mr McCarthy pushed back on Thursday on efforts from Trump loyalists seeking to remove Ms Cheney from her post as the No. 3 party leader, saying he did not support her ousting. But he acknowledged anger in the GOP ranks about her vocal role in calling for Mr Trumps impeachment and suggested a reckoning was warranted.
We allow differences of opinion inside our conference theyre welcome but I think theres questions that need to be answered, Mr McCarthy said, pointing to the style in which things were delivered.
Ms Cheney delivered a scathing rebuke of Mr Trump the day before the impeachment vote, in a statement that was read by Democrats repeatedly on the House floor in an attempt to browbeat Republicans.
There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution, she said in part.
Her decision to speak out early, fuelling the Democratic attacks, angered GOP colleagues including a corps of Trump loyalists who have demanded her resignation. It remains unclear, however, whether the effort to remove her from her leadership post will move forward.
Mr McCarthy said the matter would be discussed at a House GOP conference meeting next week, and several Republicans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe internal dynamics said most members simply wanted to blow off steam rather than provoke a messy leadership shuffle.
There is far more interest in having those conversations than in removing her as conference chair, one GOP aide said.
Ms Cheney said in a Fox News interview on Thursday that all lawmakers have an obligation to the Constitution and an obligation to do what we believe is right.
We have differences of opinion about a whole range of issues, including about this one, she added. I anticipate and am confident we will be united as a conference going forward.
Trump loyalists displeasure with Ms Cheney is not new. Last year, she faced calls for her removal as party leader from several stridently pro-Trump lawmakers affiliated with the hard-right House Freedom Caucus after she questioned Mr Trumps decision to draw down troops abroad and praised Anthony Fauci, the government immunologist.
Ms Cheney on Wednesday garnered her first Republican primary challenger for 2022, state senator Anthony Bouchard, who said in a statement that her long-time opposition to President Trump and her most recent vote for Impeachment shows just how out of touch she is with Wyoming.
But she won a vote of confidence on Thursday from a powerful in-state colleague, Senator John Barrasso. He called her a highly effective and valuable member of our Wyoming delegation and said her strong voice and leadership will matter these next four years more than ever.
Also delivering gestures of support for Ms Cheney were Steve Scalise, the minority whip, and Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Asked in a Fox Business Network interview about the push to oust Ms Cheney, Mr Scalise said he was not in that camp, while Mr McCaul said in a statement that the GOP is a big tent and we should be able to disagree with each other on some issues.
Right now we should be focused on stopping President Biden from enacting some of his more liberal agenda items … instead of bickering with one another, he said.
Washington Post