WASHINGTON: Democrats marched on Donald’s impeachment case Triumph to the Senate Monday night for the start of his historical judgmentBut Republican senators were softening their criticism of the former president and avoiding calls to condemn him for the deadly siege of the United States Capitol.
It’s an early sign of Trump’s lasting influence over the party.
House prosecutors delivered the only indictment of “ incitement to insurrection, ” making the ceremonial walk through the Capitol to the Senate. But Republican denunciations of Trump have cooled off since the January 6 riots. Instead, Republicans are presenting a tangle of legal arguments against the legitimacy of the trial and questions whether Trump’s repeated demands to overturn Joe bidenThe election was really an incitement.
What to some Democrats seemed like a closed case unfolding for the world on live television, when Trump encouraged a crowd to “ fight like hell ” for his presidency, he runs into a Republican Party that feels very different. Not only are there legal concerns, but senators are wary of crossing over to the former president and his legions of supporters who are his voters. Security remains tight on Capitol Hill.
Sen. John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said yes Congress begins holding impeachment trials of former officials, what’s next: “ Could we go back and try President Obama? ”
Furthermore, he suggested, Trump has already been held accountable. “ One way in our system to get punished is to lose an election. ”
Arguments in the Senate trial will begin the week of February 8, and the case against Trump, the first former president to face impeachment, will test a political party that is still preparing for the post-Trump era. Republican senators are balancing the demands of big money donors who are distancing themselves from Trump and voters demanding loyalty from him. A Republican, Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, announced Monday that he would not seek reelection in 2022 citing the polarized political atmosphere.
For Democrats, the tone, tenor, and length of the upcoming trial, so early in Biden’s presidency, poses its own challenge, forcing them to strike a balance between their promise to hold Trump accountable and their enthusiasm to deliver. the priorities of the new administration after its sweep. control of the House, Senate and White House.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Republicans seem more eager to discuss the trial process than the substance of the impeachment case against Trump, perhaps to avoid passing a judgment on the “ role of the former president in fomenting the despicable attack ” against the Capitol.
He said there is only one question that “ senators from both parties will have to answer before God and their own conscience: is former President Trump guilty of inciting an insurrection against the United States? ”
Failure to carry out the trial would amount to a “ jail free exit card ” for other officials accused of wrongdoing on their way out the door, Schumer said.
On Monday, it emerged that Chief Justice John Roberts is not expected to preside over the trial, as he did during Trump’s first impeachment trial, which could affect the severity of the process. The change is said to be in line with protocol because Trump is no longer in office.
Instead, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Who plays the largely ceremonial role of president pro-tempore of the Senate, is ready to preside.
Leaders of both sides agreed to a brief delay in proceedings that serves their political and practical interests, even as National Guard troops remain on Capitol Hill amid threats to the security of lawmakers before trial.
The start date gives Trump’s new legal team time to prepare his case, while also providing more than a month away from the passions of the bloody riot. For the Democrat-led Senate, the weeks in between provide the best time to confirm some of Biden’s key cabinet nominees.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Questioned how his colleagues who were on Capitol Hill that day could view the insurrection as more than an “ astonishing violation ” of the nation’s history of peaceful transfers of power.
“ This is a critical moment in American history, ” Coons said in an interview Sunday.
An early vote to dismiss the trial would likely not be successful, given that Democrats now control the Senate. Still, growing Republican opposition to the proceedings indicates that many Republican senators would eventually vote to acquit Trump. Democrats would need the support of 17 Republicans _ a high bar _ to condemn him.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, said he does not believe the Senate has the constitutional authority to convict Trump after he has left office.
“ I think a lot of Americans will think it’s strange that the Senate is going into trying to convict and remove from office a man who left office a week ago, ” Cotton said.
Democrats reject that argument, pointing to an 1876 impeachment of a secretary of war who had already resigned and the views of many jurists. Democrats also say a reckoning of the first Capitol invasion since the War of 1812, perpetrated by rioters incited by a president while Electoral College votes were being counted, is necessary to ensure such a siege never occurs again.
Some Republican senators have agreed with Democrats, though they are nowhere near the number it will take to convict Trump.
Sen. Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, said he believes that “ what is alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is a challengeable crime. ” Romney said, “ If not, what is it? ”
But Romney, the only Republican who voted to convict Trump when the Senate acquitted the then president in last year’s trial, appears to be an outlier.
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