A majority of the US Senate on Tuesday local time voted to hold a full impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump when they backed Democrats’ argument that the proceeding is allowed under the US Constitution.
Mr Trump’s lawyers argued that as a former president, the Senate has no legal standing for holding a trial on the House of Representatives’ impeachment charge that he incited an insurrection while in office.
But the Senate voted 56-44 to proceed with the trial, with six Republicans joining Democratic lawmakers.
The historic second impeachment trial of Donald Trump opened earlier on Tuesday in the US Senate, with prosecutors vowing to win a conviction based on the “cold, hard facts” of the January storming of the US Capitol.
Kicking off with days of argument on whether Mr Trump incited insurrection on January 6 – the trial charges into unprecedented constitutional territory as the first of a former president.
House of Representatives Democrats serving as prosecutors opened their case by showing video of Trump supporters violently overwhelming police at the Capitol in the 6 January attack after he had encouraged people in a speech to “fight like hell” to overcome his 3 November election defeat.
The video showed Trump backers throwing down barriers, hitting police officers and at one point telling one: “We outnumber you a million to one out here.”
“Our case is based on cold, hard facts. It’s all about the facts,” lead House prosecutor Jamie Raskin told the trial.
Inside the ornate building, Democratic prosecutors will lay out a case heavily supported by video evidence that Mr Trump deliberately stoked rage over his November reelection loss to Joe Biden, fed the country lies that the vote was rigged, then incited the Capitol riot.
“It’s our solemn constitutional duty to conduct a fair and honest impeachment trial of the charges against former president Mr Trump – the gravest charges ever brought against a president of the United States in American history,” Democratic Majority leader Chuck Schumer declared as proceedings got underway.
The trial will make uncomfortable viewing for senators, including the many Republicans making clear they will not vote to convict Mr Trump, but who had to flee to safety when the violent crowd surged through the Capitol that day.
Outside, thousands of National Guard troops deployed in the aftermath of the debacle continue to patrol, while hastily thrown up fences barricade the area from ordinary Americans – visible proof that the aftershocks of the Mr Trump era continue to rumble.
Mr Trump becomes the first president ever to face two impeachment trials – he was acquitted in 2020 of abuse of power – as well as the first in history to be tried after leaving office.
Mr Trump’s legal team is basing its case largely on the procedural argument that a former president cannot be tried, calling the Senate trial “absurd.”
They also argue that whatever Mr Trump said during his 6 January rally is protected by the constitutional right to free speech and did not amount to ordering the assault on Congress.
A second acquittal is all but certain for Mr Trump, who is holed up in his luxury Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and, after being barred from Twitter, has spent the weeks since leaving office in near silence.
Democrats hold 50 of the 100 Senate seats and Vice President Kamala Harris is able to cast a tie-breaking vote. But it would take a two-thirds majority for a conviction, meaning at least 17 Republican senators would have to join.
Polarised country
With the country at its most polarised in at least half a century, the impeachment trial risks becoming a new flashpoint.
Amped up on four years of Mr Trump’s populist claims to be fighting for ordinary people against the elites, huge numbers of Republican voters continue to support the ex-president, pushing their party ever further to the right.
However, Democrats are equally energised and polls show that a small majority of the country overall believes Mr Trump deserves conviction. An Ipsos/ABC News poll found 56 per cent back this, while a Gallup poll found 52 per cent support.
It’s not clear yet how long the trial will last but it will be shorter than the three-week marathon of Mr Trump’s first impeachment and could end as soon as next week.
First up will be up to four hours of debate, followed by a vote, on the constitutionality of trying an ex-president. This will almost certainly be just a formality as the Democrats have enough votes, but it will give early indication of how open Republicans are to the case at all.
The main part of the trial will start Wednesday, with each side having 16 hours to present oral arguments.
Senators, who are the jurors, will then question the opposing legal teams.
A majority vote will be needed if either side wants to call witnesses. Mr Trump, however, has already refused an invitation to testify.
Republican Senator Joni Ernst told AFP that he was ready to “listen,” but spoke for many others on his side when he added: “I don’t believe this to be constitutional. So we’re going through an exercise that I don’t believe meets the intent of our founders.”
Joe Biden above the fray
Mr Biden, who succeeded Mr Trump on 20 January, is attempting to stay above the fray.
Daily, the White House is sending a message that the Democrat is focused instead on the fragile economy and the desperate effort to vaccinate Americans against the still out-of-control COVID-19 pandemic.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki reiterated on Tuesday that Mr Biden is “going to wait for the Senate to determine the outcome of this.”
“He’s not going to comment on the back and forth arguments, nor is he watching them,” Ms Psaki told reporters.
If Mr Trump were convicted, the Senate would then hold a simple-majority vote on barring him from future public office.
But even if the impeachment trial ends in acquittal, calls to punish Mr Trump for his behavior will continue, including possibly a push for a bipartisan vote of censure.
