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WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats began formally advocating Wednesday (Feb. 10) that former President Donald Trump should be sentenced for inciting a siege on the U.S. Capitol, a day after a divided Senate concluded that his impeachment could continue even though Trump has already left office.
The House of Representatives accused Trump of inciting an insurrection after he delivered a fiery speech on January 6 urging thousands of supporters to march on Capitol Hill, where members of Congress gathered to certify President Joe Biden’s election victory. .
In an assault that shocked the world, rioters stormed the building in a futile effort to stop Biden’s victory, sending lawmakers underground and leaving five people dead, including a police officer.
On Tuesday, the Senate voted largely along party lines that impeachment could advance even though Trump’s term ended on January 20. Six of the 50 Republican senators broke their caucus to side with the Democrats.
The result suggests that Democrats face great difficulty obtaining a conviction and preventing Trump from seeking public office again. A two-thirds majority in the Senate must vote to convict, meaning that at least 17 Republicans would have to challenge Trump’s still potent popularity among Republican voters.
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The trial takes place inside the Senate chamber, where the senators who now serve as jurors were forced to flee for their safety a month ago when a mob stormed the building.
Nine members of the Democratic House of Representatives serving as Trump’s prosecutors began the proceedings Tuesday with the broadcast of a graphic video that interspersed excerpts from Trump’s speech with scenes from the attack, including videos of assaulted police officers and a murdered riot. shots by authorities.
Democrats accused Trump of committing an unforgivable crime by encouraging his supporters to block the peaceful transfer of power, a hallmark of American democracy.
“If that’s not an indictable crime, then it doesn’t exist,” said US Representative Jamie Raskin, who delivered an emotional speech in which he recounted how he separated from his daughter and son-in-law during the violence.
RIGHTS OF EXPRESSION
Trump’s lawyers argued that the former president’s rhetoric, including repeated false claims that the election was stolen, is protected by the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee, and that the people who violated the Capitol, not Trump, were responsible for their own criminal behavior.
Lawyers attempted to portray the trial as a sham, claiming that Democrats had engineered the impeachment trial to end Trump’s political career while ignoring basic principles of fairness and due process.
“We are really here because the majority in the House of Representatives does not want to face Donald Trump as a political rival in the future,” Bruce Castor, one of Trump’s attorneys, told senators.
The Democratic-led House impeached Trump a week after the riots, making him the third US president to be indicted and the first to be indicted twice.
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Trump’s first impeachment trial, stemming from his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden during the presidential campaign, ended in an acquittal a year ago in what was then a Republican-controlled Senate.
Party leaders agreed on a fast-moving program that could lead to a vote on conviction or acquittal early next week. Some Democrats had raised concerns that a lengthy trial could delay progress on Biden’s agenda, including a proposed $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package.
Biden will not see much of the trial, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said this week, adding that he is focused on the pandemic more than the fate of his predecessor.
Asked by reporters Monday, the president declined to say whether he believed Trump should be convicted.
