Dems take Trump’s trial process forward, deliver impeachment charge to Senate

All 100 members of the Senate will be sworn in as jurors on Tuesday for the trial, which is slated to start on February 9, in a delayed start to give former US president Donald Trump time to put together his defence

Nine House Democrats marched across to the US Senate on Monday evening and delivered the article of impeachment, triggering former president Donald Trump’s trial in the upper chamber for inciting supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6.

Clerk of the House Cheryl Johnson along with acting House Sergeant-at-Arms Tim Blodgett lead the Democratic House impeachment managers as they walk through the Capitol Hill to deliver to the Senate the article of impeachment alleging incitement of insurrection against former president Donald Trump, in Washington, DC on January 25, 2021. (AP)

Jamie Raskin, one of the nine Democrats who will act as prosecutors in the trial as House managers, read out the article of impeachment that charges Trump with “incitement of insurrection” and details events leading up to it as the culmination of the former president’s efforts to overturn his election defeat to Joe Biden.

All 100 members of the Senate will be sworn in as jurors on Tuesday for the trial, which is slated to start on February 9, in a delayed start to give Trump time to put together his defence.

President Biden, who had sought to stay above his predecessor’s impeachment and left it to his Democratic colleagues in Congress, signalled his support for the trial, telling CNN, “I think it has to happen.”

Trump’s Republican allies and aides have argued against the trial, saying, among other things, that Biden is opposed to it as well as he seeks to get on with his presidency.

Biden does indeed want to get on with governance, but he made clear his support for Trump’s impeachment and conviction.

In a 50-50 evenly split Senate, Democrats, who had successfully pushed for Trump’s impeachment and are now pursuing the trial, need the votes of 17 Republicans to achieve the two-third supermajority required to convict the former president.

It is unlikely to happen, though, despite many Republicans getting outraged by the storming of the Capitol that was instigated by Trump. Five people, including a Capitol police officer, were killed in the attack.

Trump, who had instigated the rioting in a speech earlier that day, was punished for it with a historic rebuke just a week after. On January 13, he was impeached, becoming the first American president to be impeached twice. He was first impeached in December 2019.

The House had impeached Trump at that time for abusing the powers of his office to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden and also for obstruction of Congress. He was acquitted by the Senate on February 5, 2020.