Former President Donald Trump faces his second impeachment trial in the Senate.
Mandel Ngan/Getty ImagesWith one week remaining before the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the former president's new lawyers have revealed their arguments to the case against him. Trump's response to the article of impeachment was published Monday night, denying that the former president "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States."
"It is denied that President Trump incited the crowd to engage in destructive behavior," Trump's response alleges. "It is denied that the phrase 'if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore' had anything to do with the action at the Capitol."
Trump continues to deny that his baseless allegations that the election was stolen are false. The response additionally denies that: Trump intended to interfere with counting electoral votes; Trump asked the Georgia secretary of state to "find" more votes than were cast; and Trump threatened the integrity of the democratic system or interfered with the peaceful transition of power.
The response also alleges that the Senate does not have the jurisdiction to decide an impeachment trial, as Trump is no longer president -- and alleges he did not commit an impeachable offense.
Prior to Trump's response, the House Democrats impeachment managers laid out their case to the Senate for convicting Trump. The impeachment trial must go ahead "to protect our democracy and national security, and deter any future president" from provoking violence, they argue.
Trump's responsibility in inciting the insurrection is "unmistakable," the House Democrats allege in their case, adding Trump lied to his supporters for many weeks by claiming the election was stolen.
"By the day of the rally, President Trump had spent months using his bully pulpit to insist that the Joint Session of Congress was the final act of a vast plot to destroy America," the House Democrats' case says. "As a result, and as had been widely reported, the crowd was armed, angry and dangerous ... President Trump whipped it into a frenzy, exhorting followers to 'fight like hell [or] you're not going to have a country anymore.' Then he aimed them straight at the Capitol, declaring: 'You'll never take back our country with weakness.'"
Trump is expected to stand trial beginning Feb. 9, where he faces a single impeachment article for incitement of insurrection, regarding his role in the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol. To convict Trump, 17 Republicans would need to vote in favor. Just five voted with Senate Democrats against last week's motion to declare the trial unconstitutional.
The siege of the Capitol building sought to overturn the 2020 election results and halt the process of confirming President Joe Biden's win in the Electoral College. Biden was confirmed after the riot and later inaugurated, on Jan. 20. In a history-making moment, 10 House Republicans broke with their party to vote in favor of impeachment.
Dramatic pretrial events have seen Trump name a new legal team over the weekend; a vote by Republican senators to have the trial declared "unconstitutional"; and the presiding officer for the trial, the new Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Patrick Leahy, 80, briefly hospitalized for several hours last week after unspecified "tests." While Leahy is set to carry out his duties, the hospitalization, along with these other events, underscore the unusual nature of Trump's impeachment trial -- both in terms of the timing and against the broader backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We'll explain what we know about how the impeachment trial could progress, what it takes to convict or acquit, what's at stake and where the situation stands now. This story has been updated with new information.
Read more: 14th Amendment enters Trump impeachment conversation
Schedule of Trump's impeachment trial
The trial is scheduled to unfold as follows:
- Jan. 25: Article of impeachment was presented to Senate
- Jan. 26: Senators were sworn in, summons for Trump issued
- Feb. 2: Trump's answer to article of impeachment due
- Feb. 8: Trump's pretrial brief due
- Feb. 9: House's pretrial rebuttal brief due; trial begins.
What would happen if Trump is convicted or acquitted?
If the former president is convicted in the Senate, there will be an additional vote to bar him from running again (Constitution Article 1, Section 3), which would prevent a possible Trump presidential run in 2024. This vote would only require a simple majority, where Vice President Kamala Harris would cast a tie-breaking vote if required.
Trump could also be disqualified from the benefits given to former presidents by the Post Presidents Act, including a Secret Service security detail, pension and yearly travel allowance.
According to the US Constitution, impeached presidents also can't be pardoned.
If acquitted, Trump would have access to all the benefits of a former US president, including the option to run for public office.
What will happen during Trump's impeachment trial?
The US Constitution lays out clear guidelines for impeaching a sitting president and other officers for "treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors." However, Trump's trial is an unusual case. With his second impeachment, Trump, who as of Jan. 20 is a private citizen, is the first president to be impeached twice and the first to be tried after leaving office.
The Supreme Court Chief Justice would normally preside over the impeachment trial of a president. But because it's not a trial of a sitting president, it will instead be presided over by the new Senate President Pro Tempore, Sen. Patrick Leahy who, as a senator, is also still expected to be able to vote in the trial, too.
The House will prosecute the case, and the Senate will sit as jury and ultimately vote to convict or acquit.
To convict Trump, 67 senators -- or two-thirds of the Senate -- must vote in favor. Following Biden's inauguration, the Senate is now made up of 48 Democrats, two independents who caucus with Democrats and 50 Republicans, for an even 50-50 split.
Why was Trump impeached before?
Trump was impeached in December 2019 by the House. However, the Republican-majority Senate acquitted him at the beginning of 2020.
His first impeachment involved articles accusing Trump of abusing power and obstructing Congress. The issue was Trump's dealings with Ukraine, including a July 2019 phone call in which he appeared to be using US military aid as a bargaining chip to pressure Ukraine into investigating alleged ties between his political opponent Biden, Biden's son Hunter and a Ukrainian gas company. The articles also charged Trump with interfering with a House inquiry into the Ukraine matter.
CNET's Jessica Dolcourt contributed to this report.
from CNET https://ift.tt/2YElCqp
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment