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The second unprecedented impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins Tuesday, February 9, in the Senate. He is the first president of the United States to be indicted twice, and it is the first time that a political trial has been carried out against a former president. The trial will hear accusations that he committed “serious crimes and misdemeanors” before leaving office.
What is Trump accused of?
On January 13, the US House of Representatives voted 232 to 197 to impeach Trump for “incitement to insurrection” after his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election result. of November. Ten Republican representatives voted to impeach him, making it the most bipartisan presidential impeachment in American history.
Prosecutors directly blame the former president for the violence. Five were killed, hundreds were injured, members of Congress and staff were terrified, and the headquarters of the US government building was left with “bullet marks on the walls, artwork looted, feces stained in the hallways.” all in an attempt to avoid Biden’s electoral certification of Joe Victoria. “President Trump’s responsibility for the events of January 6 is unmistakable,” prosecutors say in an 80-page memorandum released last week.
They will argue that their actions in flogging the crowd with baseless allegations of election fraud “endangered the lives of all members of Congress” and “endangered the peaceful transition of power and the line of succession.”
What is Donald Trump claiming in his defense?
Trump has had trouble putting together a legal team. His usual personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, had to recuse himself because he also gave a speech at the event accusing the former president of fomenting the insurrection. Then it appears that Trump got into a fight with his first legal team, which was led by Butch Bowers.
Now led by attorneys David Schoen and Bruce L Castor, Trump’s team last week issued a weakly argued 14-page document saying his speech did not amount to a call to storm the Capitol and that his trial was unconstitutional anyway. , because he left office. . Trump will not personally testify.
Who presides over the trial?
Trump’s first impeachment trial was presided over by Chief Justice John Roberts, as set out in the constitution. However, since this trial is of a former president, 80-year-old Patrick Leahy, the longest-serving Democratic senator and holding the title of president pro tempore, will preside. He will be prosecuted by a team of nine House impeachment directors, and the entire Senate was sworn in as a jury on January 26.
How long will the trial last?
It is not known how long the trial will last, but most people believe it will be much shorter than the three-week trial the last time Trump was accused of his actions on Ukraine, when he was accused of abusing his power and obstructing. The congress.
It is not yet clear if the Senate will vote to allow legal teams to call witnesses in person, although the trial is highly unusual as the jury are witnesses, as the senators were present on Capitol Hill and were forced into hiding when the mob invaded the same room where the trial will take place. The prosecution team is expected to include video footage and eyewitness testimonies from members of Congress as they build their case.
Will Trump be found guilty?
At first glance, it seems unlikely. An impeachment requires a two-thirds majority to obtain a conviction. If every senator votes, then at least 17 Republicans would need to vote against their former president to reach the required threshold of 67 votes.
45 senators have already supported a motion by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul that the process itself is unconstitutional and against holding the trial. It would be a huge leap for them in the space of a few weeks to go from saying the trial should not take place to finding Trump guilty.
For many Republican senators the calculation is political. House representatives who voted to impeach Trump, such as Republican Liz Cheney, have already faced protests and censure from their states’ Republican parties for not backing Trump, who still has strong grassroots support. despite losing the November elections.
Will a second indictment prevent Trump from running for office in 2024?
Not necessarily. If he was found guilty, there is no immediate punishment, as he is no longer in office. The Senate could, with a simple majority vote, bar you from holding an elective federal office in the future. With the Senate split 50-50, and Vice President Kamala Harris with the casting vote, that could be passed quite simply.
There is a constitutional argument that the Democratic-controlled Senate could attempt to do this anyway, even if Trump is found not guilty, invoking section three of the 14th amendment to the post-civil war United States constitution. That prohibits anyone who has “been involved in an insurrection or rebellion” against the United States from holding federal office, but is likely to be the subject of a significant legal dispute if it arises.
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An earlier version of this article was amended on January 13, 2021. It had incorrectly stated that not a single Republican in the Senate found Trump guilty at his first impeachment trial. In fact, a Republican senator, Mitt Romney, voted to impeach him on one charge. The article was republished on February 8 to reflect the news of the trial.
