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PRemiere in the Senate: Prosecutor’s Office and Defense discuss on Tuesday whether the new impeachment process is constitutional. In the end, six Republican senators voted in favor along with the Democrats.
The actual substantive legal proceedings can begin on Wednesday. What is the conclusion of Tuesday’s meeting?
First, Trump’s democratic impeachment was firm and professional.
The top Democratic leader on this issue is Jamie Raskin, 58, a senior manager of impeachment. On Tuesday lunchtime, he appears before the senators, who serve as the jury at the impeachment trial and ultimately decide whether 74-year-old Donald John Trump will be convicted or not. Raskin is a member of the House of Representatives and previously taught constitutional law for three decades, he emphasizes. “It’s about facts,” says Raskin, “cold, hard facts.”
The matter is not going to be discussed at all today. It is about the constitutionality of the procedure, which the Republicans disputed. Trump has only been a “citizen” to them since January 20. Raskin argues that Trump, as president, incited his devoted pack to storm the Capitol with his Jan.6 speech. He was indicted as president a week later.
Raskin may refer to various constitutional attorneys, including conservatives. His main argument: There is, he says, facing the last weeks of the president’s term, there is no “January exception.” Otherwise, a president could do whatever he wanted shortly before leaving the White House. Therefore, presidents should be able to be held responsible for crimes committed in the last days of their mandate. Anything else would be the “worst nightmare” for the fathers of the American Constitution.
Unsurprisingly, Raskin shows a quarter-hour video from January 6. It shows Trump’s thought-provoking speech, the pro-Trump mob procession to and finally to the Capitol, the brutality at the headquarters of Congress, the sessions disrupted as a result of violence. The images are forceful, the combination of Trump’s rhetoric and the angry slogans of his fans leads all the theses that there is no connection, again ad absurdum. “If that’s not a crime that deserves impeachment, then it’s nothing,” Raskin says. Trump incited his followers to storm the Capitol. Therefore, the charge is one of incitement to revolt.
At the end of his plea, Raskin describes in a moving voice, sometimes with tears, how he lived that January 6 in the Capitol. It was the day after her son’s funeral. Tommy Raskin, 25, committed suicide on New Year’s Eve. His 24-year-old daughter Tabitha and son-in-law Hank accompanied him to the Capitol on January 6, where they witnessed the violence, had to hide under tables and feared for their lives.
Of course he was safe on Capitol Hill, their father had assured them beforehand. In a choked voice and tears, Raskin reports, “I told my daughter how sorry I was. And I promised him that it wouldn’t be the case the next time he came to the Capitol with me. “His daughter’s response was harsh for him:” Dad, I don’t want to go back to the Capitol again. “
Second: the defenders of the former president put on a sometimes strange show
After a brief break from the session, 59-year-old Bruce Castor, one of Trump’s attorneys, has the floor. It’s Raskin’s blatant counterprogram. Trump’s lawyers argue that the trial is unconstitutional because the Senate can only try sitting presidents, not past presidents. The problem, however: Castor gives a speech so confused and without concepts that the decisive argument can hardly be discovered.
Castor praised the “excellent presentation” from the other side, the “brilliant speakers” on several occasions. Philosopher about the difference between murder and manslaughter, he traps senators by pointing out that they are extraordinary people, “patriots first” who love their country, their state and their families. He speaks of the sense of justice in Nebraska, from his hometown of Philadelphia. Castor recounts how, as a child, when he was “little Bruce,” he listened to Senate speeches about records. Those are those things that were played with a needle, you know.
US senators learn that the constitution is a “good thing.”
Castor’s appearance is so confusing and strange that you sometimes wonder if Sascha Baron Cohen is after her. And you realize: Compared to Castor, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani argues in a structured and serious way. Only a side that is sure of its cause can afford such an appearance.
But what does Trump think of the performance he should see at home on his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida?
Politically speaking, Castor’s words shouldn’t fit him at all. His lawyer speaks of “President Biden” while Trump has yet to congratulate his successor. Castor mentions that the people are “smart” and have decided on a new government. And presidents with only one term (read: Trump) happen when the people of the most powerful man in the country are tired, want change, and have had enough of the residents of the White House. Woohoo! Can Castor continue to work as Trump’s attorney after describing reality?
Trump’s other attorney, David Schoen, 62, doesn’t speak louder, but mostly harsher, and much more conceptually as well. The impeachment trial does not heal, but it brings new wounds. Democrats have to do with disenfranchising Trump and his 74 million voters. Schoen plays a video showing various Democrats how they have demanded impeachment against the president since Trump’s election victory in 2016. The point is correct. Shake up the text of the constitution and call Trump a “private citizen.”
Third, Trump’s downside is one step closer
After the first day of impeachment, there is little to suggest that a two-thirds majority in the Senate will convict Trump at the end of the trial. A significant number of Republicans who will vote with Democrats is nowhere to be seen. It would have to be 17 of the 50 Republicans, along with the 50 Democrats. The Senate has a total of 100 men and women.
When asked if the process is constitutional, only six Republicans vote with Democrats: Senators Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse and Pat Toomey. Five of the six senators had recently voted accordingly. Cassidy joined in and noted that the House impeachment managers had “much stronger constitutional arguments” than the former president’s team.
Also, Trump’s people were “disorganized,” very different from the Democrats.
But if only six Republican senators vote against Trump, that won’t be enough for an impeachment. Minority leader Mitch McConnell, whose vote sends a signal, voted against the impeachment procedure. So Trump is one step closer to relief on Tuesday.
The actual procedure begins on Wednesday at noon (local time, 6pm CET). Both parties have up to 16 hours to speak each. It is not known if the process will end this week. Will witnesses be heard? It is also not clear. I would lengthen it.
Fourth, Joe Biden will stay out
“I have a job”: This is how President Joe Biden responded on Tuesday to a question from a journalist about whether he was following the impeachment process on television. He referred to the Covid epidemic that killed more than 450,000 people in the United States.
Biden’s spokeswoman held a press conference during the impeachment negotiation. The message: We focus on practical work.
Biden harshly criticized Trump’s speech and the actions of the pro-Trump mob on January 6. As a former senator, however, he knows the situation of the majority in the second chamber. Above all, Biden wants his ambitious agenda to pass the Senate, initially the $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package. Among other things, this should further improve the logistics of vaccines. As of Tuesday, one in ten Americans had received at least one dose of the vaccine.
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