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Now it should go fast. The impeachment process against former President Donald Trump (74), who questioned a democratic election, is said to last only one week. That would be a record! The historic trial begins Tuesday with opening statements from senior prosecutors and Trump’s legal team in the United States Senate.
“Inciting to riot” is the indictment against Trump in the 80-page indictment. It’s about the storm on Capitol Hill on January 6, in which five people died.
Trump is the first president of the United States to be indicted twice, and the first to be out of office if convicted. A conviction would mean the suspension of office and the loss of privileges such as economic resources for the former president. However, this requires a two-thirds majority. At least 17 Republican senators would have to vote with the Democrats, something unlikely, but not impossible.
Who is important in the Trump process? BLICK presents the ten most important players.
Chief Prosecutor Jamie Raskin (58)
The deputy and former law professor is said to have drafted the first draft of the indictment while the attackers were still on Capitol Hill. “Every American should know what happened. With the indictment and the conviction, we want to make sure that such an attack on our democracy and constitution never happens again,” Raskin said in a recent interview. He also has a personal motivation: his son Tommy (25) took his own life on New Year’s Eve. “I am not going to lose my son at the end of 2020 and my country and the republic in 2021,” the chief prosecutor said militantly in January.
Trump’s attorneys David Schoen (62) and Bruce Castor Jr. (59)
Trump does not want to testify personally. Instead, David Schoen, a civil rights attorney, and Bruce Castor Jr., a former district attorney, have to take action, and they are ill-prepared. “We don’t know what the process is like,” David Schoen said last week. Trump had to call the two attorneys after Zoff with his original legal team on short notice. They argue that the process is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer president but a private person. Additionally, Trump’s unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud are covered by free speech.
Witnesses
It doesn’t exist this time! Unlike the first impeachment trial, neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys (allegedly) trust witnesses. And above all to save time. There are also tons of video footage and photos from the Jan.6 Capitol Storm, revolving around the trial, to demonstrate how Trump’s words, actions and tweets fueled the mob.
The judge
The 100 senators of the United States Congress decide on a possible conviction of former President Trump. You must be silent during the negotiation, but you can ask questions in writing.
Although Democrats currently have a slim majority, two-thirds of the votes would be needed for a conviction. In a kind of “preliminary vote,” only five Republican senators even voted in favor of the impeachment process.
Minderheitsführer Mitch McConnell (78 years old)
The most powerful Republican in the Senate has yet to make an official decision on sentencing. “I have not yet made a final decision on how I will vote, and I intend to hear the legal arguments when they go before the Senate,” McConnell told the New York Times. However, he had previously supported a request to stop the impeachment process.
Senator Susan Collins (68 years old)
Collins is one of five Republican senators who support the process as “constitutional” and can vote to convict Trump. The Republican has been in the Senate for 24 years, is considered one of the possible builders of bridges between the political fields and last week he led a group of Republicans in a working meeting with US President Joe Biden (78).
Chief Justice Patrick Leahy (80)
Typically, a Supreme Court Justice presides as “Chief Justice” over an impeachment case against a President of the United States. As Trump is no longer in office, this time Patrick Leahy (80), the “president pro tempore,” is the second highest member of the Senate after Vice President Kamala Harris (56), who chairs the Senate.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (70)
You have primary responsibility for the process. Schumer has only been the new majority leader since Georgia’s by-elections in January, so the impeachment process is something of a test for him as well. “For the sake of our democracy, Trump’s behavior cannot and should not be tolerated, excused or unpunished,” the top Senate Democrat said beforehand, but would need the support of his biggest adversary: Mitch McConnell.
MP Liz Cheney (54 years)
The prominent Republican, his father is George W. Bush Vice President, Dick Cheney, 80, is the strongest voice against Trump. In interviews, he asks his friends at the party to stay away from Trump. “Someone who sparked an attack on the United States Capitol to prevent the counting of voters’ votes, resulting in the death of five people,” and “who refused to stop this violence immediately” could not have a future leadership in the party, he said. he said Sunday on Fox News.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (80)
He sent the charges to the Senate for the second time. Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives gave Donald Trump a boost under his leadership. The top Democrat is No. 3 at the top of the US after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and holds her party together.
