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WASHINGTON, Jan 26: The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday submitted a single impeachment article to the Senate accusing Donald Trump of inciting the assault on the Capitol, launching the first impeachment trial of a former president.
In a solemn procession, the nine House impeachment directors quietly walked the article through the same ornate corridors of Congress overrun by Trump supporters on January 6 and delivered it to the Senate.
Then Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland read aloud the charge against Trump in the Senate, where the former president continues to enjoy significant support from Republican senators.
The Senate trial of Trump, 74, who was impeached by the Democratic majority House on January 13 for an unprecedented second time, will begin the week of February 8.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the 100 members of the Senate, who will serve as jurors, will be sworn in Tuesday and a subpoena will be issued to the former president.
Democrats and Republicans agreed to delay the start of the trial for two weeks to allow Trump to prepare his defense against the charge of “incitement to insurrection” and for the Senate to confirm President Joe Biden’s cabinet appointments.
The president of the Supreme Court of the United States, John Roberts, presided over the previous trial of Trump in the Senate, which ended with his acquittal, but this time the president pro tempore of the Senate will preside.
The president pro tempore is the top senator for the majority party in the Senate, currently the Democrats. Patrick Leahy, 80, who was elected to the Senate in 1974, is in office.
Republican Senator John Cornyn said having a senator as judge and jury posed a conflict of interest, but another Republican senator, Lindsey Graham, dismissed his concerns.
“I’ve known Pat for a long time,” Graham said. “I believe and hope it is fair.”
Leahy said she would swear to be fair.
“The president pro tempore has historically presided over impeachment trials of non-presidents in the Senate,” Leahy said in a statement.
“When presiding over an impeachment trial, the president pro tempore takes an additional special oath to do impartial justice in accordance with the Constitution and laws,” he said. “It is an oath that I take extremely seriously.”
Must be held accountable
Eager to put Trump in the rearview mirror and advance the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and revive the economy, Biden, 78, has taken a hands-off approach to impeachment.
Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Monday that Trump “must be held accountable.”
“We must not give Donald Trump a pass for inciting a deadly insurrection on our Capitol,” Nadler said.
“The House has done its job impeaching Trump, and now the Senate must complete the task by ensuring that he is never again in a position to directly harm America.”
Ten Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues in the House to vote to impeach Trump for inciting the crowd that stormed the Capitol as Congress certified Biden’s election victory on Nov. 3.
Five people died in the chaos, including a police officer and a protester who was shot by Capitol Police.
The House also indicted Trump a year ago for trying to dig up political dirt on Biden from Ukraine, but he was acquitted by the Senate, where only one Republican senator, Mitt Romney of Utah, voted in favor of the conviction.
Free Get Out of Jail Card
While more Republican senators may vote to convict Trump this time, it seems unlikely that at least 17 of them will.
Democrats control 50 seats in the 100-seat chamber, and it takes a two-thirds majority to convict Trump, who remains a powerful figure in the Republican Party.
If Trump is convicted, the Senate could bar him from returning to office, a move that would prevent him from running for president in 2024.
Several Republicans have denounced plans to try Trump in the Senate, and some have argued that the body has no authority to take a private citizen, like Trump now, to trial.
Schumer dismissed that argument in remarks to the full Senate on Monday.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “The theory that the Senate cannot try former officials would amount to a ‘constitutional card to get out of jail’ for any president who commits a chargeable crime.”
Trump repeatedly and falsely claimed that he had won the election and summoned his supporters to Washington on January 6 for a rally that coincided with the certification of the results by Congress.
Following a Trump speech, thousands of his supporters stormed the Capitol, fought pitched battles with the police and sent lawmakers underground.
Trump faces potential legal risk on numerous fronts, but he received good news Monday when the Supreme Court closed the lawsuits alleging he had violated laws that prohibit a president from accepting income from foreign sources. AFP
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