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See live coverage of the previous impeachment trial.
The impeachment managers of the House of Representatives plan to present a “devastating” case that is similar to a criminal prosecution in the second impeachment of former US President Donald Trump in the Senate. That’s according to senior assistants familiar with managers’ arguments.
The trustees are nine House Democrats chosen by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to defend the case.
The Senate opened the historic second impeachment trial of Trump on Wednesday (NZT), the defeated former president accused by the House of inciting the deadly mob attack on Capitol Hill to nullify the election in what prosecutors call the “gravest constitutional crime.” .
“Hear, hear, hear,” the acting sergeant at arms intoned to begin the trial.
READ MORE:
* Trump’s lawyers say the indictment is ‘constitutionally flawed’
* Court documents note how Trump’s rhetoric fueled the rioters who attacked the US Capitol.
* How the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump will work
* Trump declines the invitation to testify in next week’s impeachment.
* Donald Trump targeted the mob ‘like a loaded cannon’ before the deadly attack on the US Capitol, House Democrats say.
Attendees say managers will present a succinct story showing Trump’s “unique” responsibility for the deadly January 6 riot on Capitol Hill, beginning with his false claims of voter fraud and culminating in the building assault.
They say managers will use videos and personal stories to argue that Trump is guilty of inciting the unrest, including evidence that has not been seen before.
But, aware that they only need to convince 34 Republican senators to obtain an acquittal, Trump’s lawyers also voiced their defense from a political point of view, calling the swift impeachment effort the culmination of a long Democratic campaign to marginalize him. Trump.
“The Senate must summarily reject this brazen political act,” wrote Trump attorneys Bruce L Castor Jr, David Schoen and Michael van der Veen.
They said the sole impeachment article was “unconstitutional for a variety of reasons, any of which alone would be grounds for immediate dismissal.”
Trump’s attorneys insist as the Senate trial opens that he is not guilty of the one count of “incitement to insurrection,” his fiery words are just one way of speaking as he encouraged a crowd to “fight like hell.” for his presidency.
The Capitol siege stunned the world when rioters stormed the building to try to stop President-elect Joe Biden’s certification of victory. Five people died.
Susan Walsh / AP
Donald Trump’s company faces a deepening crisis, with key properties bleeding revenue and his bankers, lawyers and clients fleeing the company.
First: is it constitutional?
With the senators meeting as the impeachment court, the trial will begin with a debate and then a vote on whether it is constitutionally permissible to prosecute the former president, an argument that could resonate among Republicans interested in voting to acquit Trump without consideration. that condones their behavior. .
House prosecutors will argue that there is no “January exception” to a president’s actions just prior to leaving office and that the trial has broad precedent, according to attendees familiar with the arguments and granted anonymity to discuss them before trial.
It seems unlikely that House prosecutors will call witnesses, in part because senators sworn in as jurors, forced to flee for safety, will be presented with graphic video recorded that day.
At his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trump declined a request to testify.
The first president to face charges after leaving office and the first to be charged twice for felonies and misdemeanors while in office, Trump remains a challenge to the nation’s civic norms and traditions even in defeat. Security remains extremely tight on the Capitol.
Acquittal is likely, but the trial will test the nation’s attitude toward his kind of presidential power, the determination of Democrats to go after him, and the loyalty of Trump’s Republican allies who defend him.
“In trying to make sense of a second Trump essay, the public should keep in mind that Donald Trump was the first president to refuse to accept his defeat,” said Timothy Naftali, an associate clinical professor at New York University and an expert on The Richard Nixon impeachment saga, which ended with Nixon’s resignation in lieu of the impeachment.
“This trial is a way to have that difficult national conversation about the difference between dissent and insurrection,” Naftali said.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that Biden will be busy with the affairs of the presidency and won’t spend much time watching televised proceedings.
“He will leave it to his former colleagues in the Senate,” he said.
In presentations, the former president’s lawyers launched a wide-ranging attack on the House case, dismissing the trial as “political theater” on the very floor of the Senate overrun by the mob.
Trump’s defenders are preparing to challenge both the constitutionality of the trial and any suggestion that he was to blame for the insurrection.
They suggest that Trump was simply exercising his First Amendment rights when he encouraged his supporters to protest on Capitol Hill, and argue that the Senate has no right to judge Trump now that he has left office.
The House impeachment managers, in their own documents, claimed that Trump had “betrayed the American people” and that there is no valid excuse or defense.
“His incitement to insurrection against the US government _ which disrupted the peaceful transfer of power _ is the most serious constitutional crime ever committed by a president,” said the Democrats.
John Minchillo / AP
Violent rioters loyal to President Donald Trump storm the Capitol in Washington on January 6.
The arguments of each side
Under an agreement between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, opening arguments would begin at noon on Wednesday (Thursday at 6 a.m. NZT), with up to 16 hours per side for presentations.
House managers will argue the case as a “violent crime prosecution,” according to one of the aides familiar with its preparation, telling a succinct story that begins with Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen and ends with the attempt. insurrection on January 6.
They will show videos of the violence and expose the events of the day in a personal way, since they themselves were fleeing the rioters as it happened.
Trump’s defense team has said it plans to counter with its own cache of videos of Democratic politicians making fiery speeches.
After that there are hours for deliberations, witnesses and closing arguments. The trial is expected to continue through the weekend and into the next week.
A presidential impeachment trial has been conducted just three times before, leading to the acquittal of Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and then Trump last year.
Senators typically sit at their desks for such occasions, but the Covid-19 crisis has disrupted even this tradition.
Instead, senators will be allowed to spread out, in the “marble room” next to the Senate floor, where the proceedings will be shown on television, and in public galleries above the chamber, to accommodate social distancing, according to a person familiar with discussions.
Trump’s second impeachment trial is expected to differ from the long and complicated affair of a year ago. In that case, Trump was accused of privately pressuring Ukraine to unravel Biden, then a Democratic rival for the presidency.
This time, the rhetoric of Trump’s “stop the robbery” rally and the assault on the Capitol were developed for the world to see. The trial could be over in half the time.
The Democratic-led House quickly impeached the president, a week after the most violent attack on Congress in more than 200 years. Five people were killed, including a woman shot by police inside the building and a police officer who died the next day from his injuries.
Initially disgusted by the graphic images of the attack, several Republican senators have cooled down their criticism as the intervening weeks have provided some distance.
Senators were sworn in as jurors late last month, shortly after Biden’s inauguration, but the trial was delayed because Democrats focused on confirming the new president’s initial cabinet elections and Republicans tried to stall.
At the time, Senator Rand Paul forced a vote to overturn the trial as unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office.
The 45 Republican votes in favor of Paul’s measure suggest the near impossibility of reaching a conviction in a Senate where Democrats have 50 seats, but it would take two-thirds of the votes, or 67 senators, to convict Trump.
Only five Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting Paul’s motion: Mitt Romney from Utah, Ben Sasse from Nebraska, Susan Collins from Maine, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania.
