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Former President Donald J. Trump’s second impeachment trial begins Tuesday afternoon, a historic moment for the institution of the presidency and one that could have lasting political repercussions as the Republican Party charts its future.
Mr Trump has previously claimed the unwelcome distinction of being the first president to be impeached twice. His first trial in the Senate, following his campaign of pressure on Ukraine, ended in an acquittal a year ago.
The retrial is most likely heading for the same result, especially after all but five Republican senators voted last month in an unsuccessful attempt to dismiss the lawsuit as unconstitutional. Seventeen Republicans are expected to join the 50 Democrats in condemning Mr. Trump on the charge he faces, “inciting insurgency.”
The debates will nonetheless be filled with high-stakes legal and political calculations.
House impeachment officials have the opportunity to present a vivid portrait of a truth-defying president who instigated his supporters to carry out a deadly attack on the Capitol. Outlining their case in a brief last week, they said Mr. Trump was “singularly responsible” for the siege and should be convicted and disqualified again from holding public office.
In a Monday brief offering a defense to the former president, lawyers for Mr. Trump said he “did not order anyone to commit lawless actions”, and they argued that the Senate did not no power to judge a former president.
The trial should be swift. Each side has up to 4 p.m. to make their case, and a final vote on whether to convict or acquit Mr. Trump could take place early next week. This timeline would make it the fastest impeachment trial for a president in history.
It will unfold at a politically sensitive time for Republicans and Democrats, albeit in markedly different ways. Republicans face deep divisions over the party’s path to follow in the wake of Mr. Trump’s presidency, as evidenced by the backlash against the 10 House Republicans who voted last month to impeach him . The trial will once again shed light on Mr. Trump’s conduct following an election defeat he refused to accept.
Democrats are determined to hold Mr. Trump accountable for his actions, but they also have another major consideration: the fate of President Biden’s agenda in the first weeks of his presidency. Mr Biden is seeking passage of his $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, a massive legislative undertaking that Democrats in Congress do not want to delay.
Former President Donald J. Trump’s second impeachment trial begins Tuesday, about a month after he was indicted by the House of incitement to insurgency for his role in provoking a violent mob that took to stormed the Capitol on January 6.
Here’s what you need to know.
How will the trial take place?
A bipartisan deal reached on Monday could pave the way for a particularly swift and efficient process that could be completed early next week.
The Senate is set to vote to approve the rules and formally begin the trial at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Up to four hours will be devoted to the debate on the constitutionality of the dismissal of a president who is no longer in office. If a simple majority of senators agree to go ahead, as planned, the bulk of the trial begins.
From Wednesday, the prosecution and defense will have 16 hours each to present their case to the senators, who serve as a jury.
Traditionally, senators then have at least one day to ask questions. The trial is expected to end with oral argument and a final vote on whether to convict Mr. Trump.
What are the arguments on both sides?
In a fast-paced, cinematic case, House Directors will argue in the Senate that Mr. Trump is guilty of inciting a murderous mob of his supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6.
The prosecution plans to show crowd-captured videos, Mr. Trump’s unvarnished words, and criminal pleas from rioters who said they acted at the request of the former president. The directors of the house are aiming for a conviction and forbidding Mr. Trump to resume his duties.
In a 78-page brief filed Monday, lawyers for Mr. Trump argued the impeachment process was unconstitutional because Congress has no basis on which to try a former president.
On Friday, more than 140 constitutional lawyers attacked the argument, calling it “legally frivolous.”
The very first question for consideration Tuesday in the opening hours of the impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump will be whether it is constitutional to bring an impeached former president to justice.
Senate Republicans who voted last month to dismiss the lawsuit as unconstitutional were pressured Sunday to reassess their position when a prominent Conservative constitutional lawyer, Charles J. Cooper – who has been a close ally and adviser to Senators Republicans like Ted Cruz of Texas – argued in a Wall Street Journal editorial that their claims about the constitutionality of the procedure were unfounded.
Impeachment has put pressure on Republicans in the Senate to condone or repudiate Mr. Trump’s conduct. Some put the issue aside to focus instead on the process itself, arguing that whether or not Mr. Trump’s actions constitute serious felonies and misdemeanors, the Senate could not try him because the Constitution does not. not allow a former president to be tried for impeachment.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers are expected to make a narrower and more technical argument that the Constitution prohibits a former president from being brought to justice.
“The United States Senate does not have jurisdiction over the 45th President because he does not hold any public office from which he can be removed, which makes the impeachment article moot,” Mr. Trump, Bruce L. Castor Jr. and David Schoen. in a 14-page response to House Directors last week.
Democratic House impeachment officials are expected to broadly assert that a president can stand trial for power offenses, regardless of the date of trial. Otherwise, say Democrats, there would be no way to hold a president to account who does wrongdoing in the final weeks of a term.
In the opinion piece, Mr. Cooper echoed the Republicans’ contention that the penalty of an indictment conviction being removal from office, it was never intended to apply to a former president.
Mr. Cooper argued that the Constitution gives the Senate the power to ban sentenced officials from re-performing their duties, writing: “It defies logic to suggest that the Senate has no right to judge and to condemn former officials. “
Former President Donald J. Trump’s Senate impeachment trial begins on Tuesday, but the apparatus that largely fed him – the conservative news media – faces a test of its own. It could ultimately have a much bigger impact on the future of American politics than anything that happens to Mr. Trump as an individual.
Over the past few weeks, two voting technology companies have each filed 10-figure lawsuits against lawyers for Mr. Trump and his allies in the media, claiming they have spread lies that have caused tangible harm. It comes amid an already heated debate over whether to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which prevents online businesses from being held accountable for the views expressed on their platforms.
“The biggest consequence of the Trump presidency has been the militarization of disinformation and the parallel dismantling of trust in the media,” said Mark McKinnon, longtime political strategist and co-host of Showtime’s political series “The Circus ”.
“Sadly, it took the perpetration of the big lie that the election was a fraud, an insurgency on Capitol Hill, and almost destroying our democracy for someone to finally act,” McKinnon said. “But it seems to be working. Nothing like threatening the results to get the attention you want. “
Voting machine company Smartmatic on Thursday filed a $ 2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox News, some of its prominent hosts and two attorneys who represented Mr. Trump, Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani. The lawsuit accuses them of mounting a smear campaign claiming that Smartmatic was involved in an effort to launch the election. This follows a similar $ 1.3 billion lawsuit that Dominion Voting Systems brought against Mr Giuliani the previous week.
The impact was immediate. Newsmax, an ultra-conservative TV station that expanded its popularity by aligning itself to the right of Fox News, interrupted an interview with MyPillow founder Mike Lindell last week as he attacked Dominion – something commentators had done on the station several times before. Then, over the weekend, Fox Business ousted Lou Dobbs, one of Mr. Trump’s fiercest supporters of television news and a named accused in the Smartmatic trial.
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