How Donald Trump’s impeachment trial continues | The …

The lower house voted with 232 votes in favor, including 10 Republicans, and 197 against to initiate an impeachment process against the president.

These are some of the possible scenarios after the House vote, which accused Trump of instigating an attack by his supporters on Capitol Hill when Congress certified Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential victory.

Senate trial

After Wednesday’s vote, it is up to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to present the impeachment article to the Senate when she chooses. The Senate will then proceed to the indictment.

This is what happened last year after the Democrat-controlled lower house launched the impeachment process against Trump for pressuring the Ukrainian president to dig up information that could compromise Biden.

Trump was acquitted by the Republican majority in the Senate in February 2020.

This time, however, Trump has only one week left in the White House and Biden will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on January 20.

he The Senate is currently in suspension and there are no plans to return until January 19.

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has the power to recall the Senate in advance and hold an emergency session. But McConnell ruled out that.

Even if the Senate were to act “quickly,” there is no way it could hold a trial before Biden takes office and Trump leaves him, McConnell said in a statement.

“Given the Senate rules, procedures and precedents governing presidential impeachment trials, there is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial can be concluded before President-elect Biden is sworn in on the week. next, “he added.

McConnell noted that the three previous political trials lasted 83, 37 and 21 days.

In a statement welcoming Trump’s impeachment by the House, Schumer said “there will be an impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate” regardless of when it begins.

“Donald Trump rightly became the first president in American history to wear the sign of having been tried twice,” Schumer said. “The Senate is obliged to act and will proceed to his trial and to the vote on his sentence,” he added.

A trial after the presidency?

While three American presidents were arrested, none have been tried by the Senate after leaving office.

The three previous indictments – of Trump and Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton – took place while the leaders were still in the White House.

Like Trump, Johnson in 1868 and Clinton in 1998-99 were indicted by decision of the House of Representatives, but were acquitted by the Senate.

Some constitutional experts say a former president cannot be tried by the Senate.

But The House of Representatives challenged and the Senate tried former senators and judges after they were no longer in office. or on the bench.

If a trial begins after January 20, Republicans would no longer have a majority in the Senate and Schumer would be the leader of the majority.

And even if he no longer controls the Senate, McConnell would continue to have a powerful voice among his Republican peers and he has not ruled out condemning Trump.

“Although the press has been full of speculation, I have not made a final decision on how I will vote and intend to hear the legal arguments when they come before the Senate,” said McConnell.

It takes a two-thirds majority of the senators present to convict the president, which means that if everyone is in the House, at least 17 Republicans would have to join Democrats in voting for the conviction.

Schumer said the Senate will not only vote to convict Trump of “serious crimes and misdemeanors,” but will also hold a vote that could prevent him from running for federal election again.

Trump has expressed interest in running for president again in 2024 and a simple Senate majority could prevent him from running. to the White House.