Trump’s impeachment trial to begin with arguments on constitutionality

The US Senate will begin Donald Trump’s trial for inciting an insurrection by arguing whether the proceedings are constitutional since he is no longer president. The arguments are going to be followed by a vote

The US Senate will begin the historic second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, with arguments on its constitutionality, followed by a vote.

Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 presidential election results by the US Congress, in Washington, hours before his supporters stormed the Capitol. (REUTERS)

Trump is facing trial for inciting supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6 as Congress met in a joint session to certify President Joe Biden’s election victory. Five people, including a police officer, died in the violence.

House impeachment managers and Trump’s defence team will argue the constitutionality of the trial for four hours, split evenly. After hearing them, the 100 senators — in their role as jurors in the trial — will vote to decide if the trial is constitutional. They are expected to say it is, as they had once before with all 50 Democrats joined by some Republicans.

Trump’s lawyers — Bruce L. Castor and David Schoen — have called the trial unconstitutional, arguing “the Senate lacks jurisdiction to remove from office a man who does not hold office”. In a brief filed on Monday, they urged the Senate to reject the trial, calling it a “brazen political act”.

House impeachment managers — all nine Democrats — said in a counter brief that the former president “has no valid excuse or defence for his actions. And his efforts to escape accountability are entirely unavailing”.

The two sides will make their cases over the next days, which will be followed by questioning by senators and closing arguments by the two sides and, finally, the vote, sometime next week. A conviction — which requires two-thirds of the vote — will bar Trump from holding any federal official in future and make him the only president ever convicted in an impeachment trial. He has already made history as the only president impeached twice — last time was in December 2019.

There might be more trouble in store for the former president. Georgia has started an inquiry into a phone call made by Trump Secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, also a Republican, on January 2 asking him to find him the votes needed to overturn his defeat in the state to Biden. “All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state,” Trump had told him.