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Donald Trump’s second unprecedented impeachment trial begins Tuesday, February 9 in the Senate. He is the first US president to be indicted twice, and it is the first time that an impeachment trial has taken place against a former president. The trial will hear allegations 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 insurgency” after his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election result November. 10 Republican representatives voted to remove him, making him the most bipartisan presidential impeachment in US history.
Prosecutors blame the former president squarely for the violence. Five died, hundreds were injured, members of Congress and staff were terrorized and the seat of the US government building was left with “bullet marks in the walls, looted artwork, feces. smeared in the hallways ”- all in an effort to prevent Joe’s certification from Biden’s election victory. “President Trump’s responsibility for the events of January 6 is undeniable,” prosecutors accuse in an 80-page memorandum submitted last week.
They will argue that his actions in rousing the crowd with unsubstantiated accusations of electoral fraud “endangered the lives of every member of Congress” and “endangered the peaceful transition of power and the line of succession.”
What does Donald Trump claim in his defense?
Trump has struggled to put together a legal team. His usual personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, had to recuse himself as he also gave a speech at the event where the former president is accused of instigating the insurgency. Trump then seems to have fallen out with his first legal team, led by Butch Bowers.
Now led by attorneys David Schoen and Bruce L Castor, Trump’s team last week released a barely argued 14-page document that said his speech was not a call to storm Capitol Hill and that his trial was unconstitutional anyway, because he had left office. . Trump will not personally testify.
Who is presiding over the trial?
Trump’s first indictment was presided over by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, as stated in the constitution. However, as this lawsuit concerns a former president, Patrick Leahy, 80, the longest-serving Democratic senator – who holds the title of president pro tempore – will preside. He will be prosecuted by a team of nine House impeachment officials, and the entire Senate was sworn in as a jury on January 26.
How long will the trial last?
The length of the trial is not known, but most people believe it will be much shorter than the three-week trial the last time Trump was indicted for his actions on Ukraine, when he was accused of abusing his power and obstructing Congress.
It is not yet known whether the Senate will vote to allow legal teams to call witnesses in person, although the trial is highly unusual in that jurors are witnesses, as the senators were present in Capitol Hill and were forced to hide while the crowd invaded the very room where the trial will be held. The prosecution team should include video footage and eyewitness testimony from members of Congress when developing their case.
Will Trump be found guilty?
At first glance, this seems unlikely. An impeachment trial requires a two-thirds majority for a conviction. If every senator votes, then at least 17 Republicans would have to vote against their former president to meet the required threshold of 67 votes.
Already, 45 senators have supported a motion by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul that the process itself is unconstitutional and against going to trial. It would be a giant leap for them in the space of a few weeks to go from saying the trial shouldn’t take place on Trump’s conviction.
For many Republican senators, the math is political. House officials who voted to impeach Trump, like Republican Liz Cheney, have already faced protests and censorship from their state Republican parties for their failure to support Trump, who still enjoys a strong grassroots support despite the loss of the November elections.
Will a second indictment prevent Trump from leaving office in 2024?
Not necessarily. If he has been found guilty, there is no immediate punishment, since he is no longer in office. The Senate could, with a simple majority vote, prevent him from holding federal elected office in the future. With the Senate split 50-50 and Deputy Speaker Kamala Harris holding the casting vote, it might just pass.
There is a constitutional argument that the Democrat-controlled Senate could try to do it anyway, even if Trump is found not guilty, by invoking Section Three of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution after the Civil War. This bars anyone who has “engaged in an insurgency or rebellion” against the United States from holding federal office, but it risks being the subject of a significant legal dispute if one does arise.
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An earlier version of this article was edited on January 13, 2021. She had wrongly said that not a single Republican in the Senate found Trump guilty in his first impeachment trial. In fact, a Republican senator, Mitt Romney, voted to impeach him on a single charge. The article was republished on February 8 to reflect developments updated with the lawsuit.
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