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A two-thirds majority of the senators present is needed to convict the president, which means that if all of them are in the room at least 17 Republicans would have to join the Democrats to vote for impeachment.
On Wednesday, the United States House of Representatives Constitutionally indicted President Donald Trump a second time and the tycoon will again face impeachment in the Senate.
With 232 votes in favor, including 10 Republicans, and 197 against, the Democrats of Nancy Pelosi managed to start the process for the eventual removal of the commander-in-chief.
But the Senate, still controlled by Republicans, already acquitted him in February 2020. What will happen now then?
This is what is about to happen in the United States Congress now that Trump is officially indicted for having incited his supporters’ attack on the Capitol, when deputies and senators in joint session certified the presidential victory of Democrat Joe Biden.
Trial in the Senate
After the vote this Wednesday corresponds to the Democratic president of the House, Nancy Pelosi, Presenting Impeachment Article to the Senate at the time she decides.
That already happened, so the Senate can now carry out the trial politician.
That is what happened last year after the House, controlled by the Democrats, began the process of “impeachment” against Trump for pressuring the president of Ukraine to unearth information that could compromise Joe Biden.
Trump was acquitted by the Republican majority in the Senate in February 2020.
This time, however, to Trump He’s only got a week left in the White House and Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on January 20.
The Senate is currently in recess and it is not expected to resume activities until January 19. And the next day the Democrats will regain their control.
Still Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate Republican Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, has the power to recall the Senate ahead of time and hold an emergency session, but the Kentucky legislator has already ruled that out.
Even if the Senate moved “promptly,” there is no way it could hold a trial before Biden takes office and Trump leaves it, McConnell said in a statement.
“Given the Senate rules, procedures, and precedents governing impeachment trials, simply there is no chance that a fair or serious trial it can be concluded before President-elect Biden is sworn in next week, ”he said.
McConnell recalled that the three previous political trials (Johnson, Clinton and Trump I) lasted 83, 37 and 21 days.
In a statement welcoming Trump’s impeachment by the House, Schumer said that “there will be an impeachment trial in the Senate of the United States ”, regardless of when it starts.
“Donald Trump has deservedly become the first president in the history of the United States to bear the stain of having been tried twice “Schumer said.
“The Senate is obliged to act and will proceed to his trial and vote on his sentence,” he said.
A trial after the presidency?
While three U.S. presidents have been challenged, none have been tried by the Senate after leaving office. On the contrary: they were all ruling in the White House.
Like Trump, both Johnson, in 1868, and Clinton in 1998-99, faced impeachment by decision of the House of Representatives, but they were acquitted by the Senate.
Some constitutional scholars hold that a Former president cannot be tried by the SenateBut the House has challenged and the Senate has tried former senators and judges after they were no longer in office or on the bench.
If a trial begins after January 20, Republicans would no longer have a majority in the Senate and Schumer would be the majority leader.
And although he will no longer have control of the Senate, McConnell would continue to have a powerful voice among his peers Republicans and has not ruled out condemning Trump.
Although the press has been full of speculation, I have not made a final decision on how I will vote and I intend to hear the legal arguments when they go before the Senate, ”McConnell said.
A two-thirds majority of the senators present is needed to convict the president, which means that if all of them are in the room at least 17 Republicans would have to join the Democrats to vote for impeachment.
Schumer asserted that the Senate will not only vote to convict Trump of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” but also hold a vote that could prevent you from running for federal office again.
Trump has expressed his interest in running for president again in 2024 and a simple majority of the Senate could prevent him from running for the White House.
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