WASHINGTON – The US Senate voted to proceed with the impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump, rejecting defense arguments that it was unconstitutional.
Defense lawyers had argued that Trump should not face a trial in the Senate for inciting insurrection because he was no longer president.
But the Senate voted 56-44 to proceed with the trial, with six Republicans joining Democratic lawmakers.
Earlier, US senators viewed harrowing video from the storming of Congress by Trump’s supporters at the start of his historic second impeachment trial, despite the defence team’s attempt to declare the whole procedure unconstitutional.
According to Trump’s lawyers, a president cannot be tried after impeachment when he has already left office.
Democratic impeachment managers – lawmakers in the role of prosecutors – attacked the unconstitutionality argument, saying that Trump had broken his oath in a naked bid to retain power after losing the November election.
Refusing to accept defeat to Joe Biden, Trump spread lies about vote rigging and repeatedly pressured officials, including then vice president Mike Pence, to try and stop the transfer of power.
Finally, on January 6, Trump told enraged Republican supporters near the White House to “fight like hell.” The crowd, chanting “stop the steal,” then attacked Congress, where Pence and lawmakers were in the process of certifying Biden’s victory.
“If Congress were to just stand completely aside in the face of such an extraordinary crime against the Republic, it would invite future presidents to use their power without any fear of accountability,” Democratic prosecutor Joe Neguse said.
Video from the January 6 mayhem played back inside the ornate Senate packed the biggest punch.
Senators – who witnessed the events first hand when they had to be rushed to safety that day – watched raw footage of Trump’s speech and the crowd’s ensuing assault on the Capitol.
The video montage showed the mob chanting pro-Trump slogans as it smashed through the doors, swarmed over police, and managed for the first time in history to disrupt the congressional vote certifying the election.
“If that’s not an impeachable offense, then there is no such thing,” impeachment manager Jamie Raskin said.
Fighting tears, Raskin recounted how he and his family – who were visiting to watch the certification – had been trapped, listening to “the sound of pounding on the door like a battering ram, the most haunting sound I have ever heard.”
“This cannot be the future of America,” he implored senators.
One of Trump’s defence lawyers David Schoen said the trial will “tear this country apart,” adding that it will leave the United States “far more divided and our standing around the world will be badly broken.”
Trump is the first president ever to face two impeachment trials – he was already acquitted in 2020 of abuse of office – as well as the first in history to be tried after leaving the White House. – AFP, February 10, 2021
