What to Expect During Trump's Second Impeachment Trial
On Tuesday, Feb. 8, the second impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump began, about one month after the House charged him with inciting insurrection regarding the Capitol's breach on Jan. 6. Trump is the first president in history to be impeached twice, and he will be the first former president to face the prospect of conviction and disbarment of office. The Senate's organizing rules of resolution have been set, and the official impeachment trial is underway.
"We think that every American should be aware of what happened, That is the reason the House impeached him, and the reason he should be convicted and disqualified from holding future federal office is to make sure that such an attack on our democracy and Constitution never happens again." Representative Jamie Raskin, the lead prosecutor, said in an interview.
On Monday, the Senate, House impeachment managers and Trump's legal team reached an agreement on rules and plans to have an efficient trial expected to end early next week.
Trump’s second impeachment trial has begun. Source: Gage Skidmore via Creative Commons
At 1 p.m. on Tuesday, the trial began; the rules gave each side up to 16 hours to state their cases to senators. The trials will open, debating the trial's constitutionality, and Trump's position as former president will be at the center of discussion. If the majority of senators vote to move on with the trial, the House impeachment managers plan to confront senators about the violence that occurred at the Capitol, and the essential parts of the trial will proceed. Trump will not be attending any portion of the trial, but he will watch from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
The oral debate could extend into next week, and the senators are given one day to question the cases. Senators may allow House managers to force a debate and vote on witness accounts. The trial will likely conclude with closing arguments and a final say on whether the former president should be convicted. If the trial is not over by Saturday, the Senate will allow a Sunday Session to conclude the debates according to the current trial rules.
Trump's lawyers claim the impeachment conviction violates the former president's free speech and due process, and is constitutionally flawed. "Indulging House Democrats' hunger for this political theater is a danger to our Republic, democracy and the rights that we hold dear," Trump impeachment attorneys Bruce L. Castor Jr. and David Schoen said in the 75-page trial brief. The attorneys argued that Trump used the word "fight" in a "figurative sense," and then he urged the rioters to make their voices "peacefully and patriotically heard."
The house managers serving as prosecutors responded to the brief, claiming all defenses President Trump made are without merit and the allegations made in the charges are true. "The House did not impeach President Trump because he expressed an unpopular political opinion," they said. "It impeached him because he willfully incited violent insurrection against the government."
The impeachment trials will continue to unfold as it is unknown whether Trump will be convicted or not. Many Senate Republicans have expressed concerns about the former president's role in inciting violence on the Capitol; however, last week, 45 Senate Republican representatives voted to dismiss impeachment proceedings, indicating that the two-thirds of the chamber needed to convict may be challenging to reach.
To continue following the impeachment live, major news outlets will be streaming and reporting live trial updates throughout the week, such as CSPAN, CBS and more.