Donald Trump indictment: an indictment with considerable political risk – News

Democrats want to hold US President Donald Trump accountable after storming the Capitol and have signed the impeachment lawsuit. The risks of a failed impeachment trial are manifold. Democrats risk a failed impeachment cover-up for Donald Trump, the opposite of actual intent.

It is clear to Democrats in the House of Representatives that President Trump must be held accountable. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said: “The president represents a clear threat to the country.”

She signed the impeachment complaint on the same pedestal that the rioters had taken away with a laugh last week.

Republican resistance

The charges against Trump are: “inciting a coup,” and yet only ten out of 211 Republicans in the Grand Chamber approved the impeachment process.

Parts of the remaining majority criticized the project for being too hasty. The leader of the Republican parliamentary group Kevin Mc Carthy said that while Trump was complicit in the attack on Capitol Hill, an impeachment trial would further divide the nation.

The process begins with a new president

It is not yet clear when the actual trial against Donald Trump will begin in the Senate. Probably after Joe Biden’s inauguration. But can a former president be removed from office retrospectively? That will first have to endure a legal test. If so, at least 17 Republicans will resign Trump, which would be necessary for a two-thirds majority in the Senate, necessary for impeachment.

Consequences of a failed impeachment

Democrats risk the Senate acquitting Trump a second time and politically whitewashing him. The Republican leadership has already verbally distanced itself from Trump. But whether words are followed by deeds depends a lot on the opinion of the electoral base of individual senators. Initial polls claim that President Trump’s approval has dropped to around 70% among Republican voters.

It is questionable whether the impact of events is so deep on the bones of MPs that they will ignore the staggering popular support that Trump apparently still enjoys.

Isabelle jacobi

US Correspondent, SRF

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After studying in the United States and Bern, Jacobi worked for Radio SRF from 1999 to 2005. He then worked as a freelance journalist in New York. In 2008 she returned to SRF as a producer at Echo der Zeit and became editor-in-chief in 2012. Jacobi has been a US correspondent in Washington since the summer of 2017.