WASHINGTON (AP) – The second historic trial of Donald Trump’s dismissal opens this week with a sense of urgency: Democrats who want to hold the former president responsible for the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol and Republicans who want it as soon as possible.
It is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, just over a month after the deadly uprising, the trials are expected to be different from the lengthy and complicated trial that resulted in Trump’s acquittal a year ago, accused of privately pressuring Ukraine to unearth a Democratic rival, now president Joe Biden. This time, Trump’s January 6 cry to “fight like hell” and Capitol storms played into the world. While Trump could very well be acquitted again, the trial could end in half the time.
Details of the performances Senate leaders are still negotiating, with the length of the senators ’opening of arguments, questions and deliberations all under debate.
So far, it looks like there will be few witnesses summoned, as prosecutors and defense attorneys speak directly with senators who have sworn to deliver “impartial justice” as jurors. Most also witnessed the siege, as they fled for security that day when riots broke out at the Capitol and temporarily halted the electoral count that certified Biden’s victory.
Trump defense attorneys rejected a request for him to testify. Linked to his club Mar-a-Lago, the former president has been silenced on social media by Twitter without public comment since he left the White House,
Instead, House administrators who prosecute the case are expected to rely on most videos of the siege, along with Trump’s incendiary rhetoric that refuses to grant the election, to present his case. His new defense team has said it plans to counter with its own cache of videos of Democratic politicians making fiery speeches.
“We have the unusual circumstance that on the first day of the trial, when these administrators walk through the Senate floor, there will already be more than 100 witnesses present,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, who led The First Dismissal of Trump. “If you need additional testimonials it will be a strategic call.”
Trump is the first president to be indicted twice and the only one to face trial after leaving the White House. The Democratic-led House passed a single charge, “incitement to insurrection,” which acted swiftly a week after the riot, the most violent attack on Congress in more than 200 years. Five people were killed, including a woman shot by police inside the building and a police officer who died of injuries the next day.
Democrats argue that it’s not just about winning the sentence, it’s about holding the former president accountable for his actions., although he is out of office. For Republicans, the trial will test his political loyalty to Trump and his lasting control of the Republican Party.
Initially rejected by graphic images of the siege, Republican senators, including Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, denounced the violence and pointed the finger at Trump. But in recent weeks Republican Party senators have focused around Trump arguing that his comments do not hold him responsible for the violence. They question the legitimacy of even conducting a trial against someone who no longer holds office.
On Sunday, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi described Trump’s impeachment trial as a “partisan exercise of meaningless messaging.” Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky called the trials a farce with “zero chance of conviction” and described Trump’s language and words as “figurative.”
Senators were sworn in as jurors late last month, shortly after Biden’s inauguration, but the trial was delayed as Democrats focused on confirming the new president’s initial cabinet election and the Republicans tried to put as much distance as possible from the bloody riot.
At the time, Paul forced a vote to set aside the trial as unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office, and drew 44 other Republicans to his argument.
A prominent Conservative lawyer, Charles Cooper, rejects that view, writing in a Wall Street Journal opinion article on Sunday that the Constitution allows the Senate to try an ex-official, a significant counterpoint to that of Republican senators who have looked toward acquittal advancing constitutionally. claims.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s staunchest supporters, said he believed Trump’s actions were wrong and that “he will have a place in history for all of this,” but insisted it is not the job of the Senate Judge.
“It’s not about how the trial ends, it’s about when it ends,” Graham said. “Republicans will see this as an unconstitutional exercise and the only question is: will they call witnesses, how long will the trial last? But the outcome is not really questioned.”
But 45 votes in favor of Paul’s move suggested the near impossibility of reaching a conviction in a Senate where Democrats had 50 seats, but it would take a two-thirds vote (or 67 senators) to condemn Trump. Only five Republican senators joined Democrats to reject Paul’s motion: Utah’s Mitt Romney, Nebraska’s Ben Sasse, Maine’s Susan Collins, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, and Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey.
Schiff was on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Wicker spoke on ABC’s “This Week,” Paul was on “Fox News Sunday,” and Graham on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.