Trump's impeachment trial begins this week, Trump will not attend the trial

Editor : Li Hong / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2021/02/09/a103050104.html / Direct translation

News (1)

Trump's impeachment trial begins this week, what issues you need to know

The U.S. Senate will start an impeachment trial against former President Trump on Tuesday (February 9). Republicans have signaled that the probability of convicting Trump is basically "zero." Democrats admit that impeachment may be unconstitutional.

The Epoch Times reported that last month, the House of Representatives passed the impeachment clause against Trump with a 232-197 vote. Trump was accused of inciting riots but Trump said that in the Capitol incident, he did not make any appeals for violence.

In his speech on January 6, Trump called on supporters to speak out "peacefully and patriotically" during the joint session of Congress. The Democrats claimed that Trump is rallying and inciting violence and should be held responsible for the riots in the Capitol. Then they launched the second impeachment against Trump.

As part of the pretrial agreement reached between McConnell and Schumer, the House impeachment manager and Trump defense team submitted a second round of briefings to the Senate on Monday. These briefings should provide a window to further let everyone know how the two sides will present their own dialectic arguments after the first round of briefings were submitted last week.

News (2)

Trump will not attend the impeachment trial

During the Senate impeachment trial on February 9, former President Trump will not be present to testify. Trump’s senior adviser Jason Miller told Fox News on February 4: “The president will not testify in unconstitutional proceedings.”

House impeachment representative Jamie Raskin asked Trump to testify in the Senate impeachment trial on February 4. Trump’s defense lawyers Bruce Castor and David Schoen, in response to Ruskin,  said that the request was a "public relations gimmick" and that the Democrats "cannot prove" the allegations against Trump.

News (3)

The host of the impeachment trial and Trump's defense lawyer

According to regulations, the impeachment of the president must be presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but Chief Justice John Roberts refused to preside over the impeachment. The Democrats chose Patrick Leahy, the Speaker of the Senate and Democrat, to replace Roberts.

Republican Senator Rand Paul told Fox News that Roberts was unwilling to host, “This is a strong signal for all of us that this will be a party hearing hosted by Democrats. "

Paul also said that if Trump is to be convicted for his speech, then Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer should also face impeachment. He also cited Schumer's previous threats against conservative justices of the Supreme Court.

Trump's impeachment defense team will be led by two lawyers, Castor and Skohn. Castell has stated that the defense team will show video clips of some of the top Democrats' remarks inciting violence during the impeachment trial.

Trump’s defense team argued in its defense that “the Constitution requires impeachment against those who actually hold positions” and that Trump questioned the outcome of the November election because of the exercise of the First Amendment’s Right to freedom of speech.

Alan Dershowitz, a law professor at Harvard University, stated on February 6 that the effective legal defense of the Trump team is to challenge the constitutionality of the Democratic Party’s accusations of Trump.

Dershowitz told Newsmax that the argument Trump can put forward is that "the Senate has no jurisdiction over a former president, and (Trump's) speech is protected by the First Amendment."

News (4)

Republicans: Convicting Trump is basically impossible

Before the impeachment trial began, Republicans had made it clear that the result of the impeachment had actually been determined.

"This (impeachment of Trump) is a partisan farce," Republican Senator Paul said in an interview on the Fox show on February 7.

When asked whether Senate Democrats have a chance to get 67 votes to convict Trump, Paul said: "The probability of conviction is zero."

There are 100 seats in the Senate, and the Democrats and Republicans each hold 50 seats. This means that at least 17 Republicans and all Democrats must vote to impeach Trump before Trump can be convicted.

"45 Republicans have stated that this (impeachment of Trump) is not a legal procedure...As for witnesses, I think it is unlikely that they are witnesses; if they really want to be witnesses, there will be so much evidence to prove (Trump) The president has nothing to do with this matter."

In fact, Paul filed a motion to impeach the former president in violation of the constitutional procedure in the Senate last month, calling for a vote on the constitutionality of the impeachment trial. 45 Republican senators voted that the impeachment was unconstitutional and supported the rejection of Trump's second impeachment trial.

This means that among the 50 Republicans, the Democrats have only reached the platform of 5 Republicans. To position Trump, it still needs the support of 12 additional Republicans.

Graham said that the result of the impeachment has actually been determined. It is just a question of how long the trial will last.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham stated that “the (impeachment) result is actually not suspenseful.” Republicans will not convict Trump. The impeachment trial is just a matter of how long it will last.

"Impeachment is a political process. We have never impeached an outgoing president. I think this (impeaching Trump) is a very bad idea. More than 45 Republicans will vote early, thinking it is unconstitutional . This is not a question of how the trial will end, but a question of when it will end." Graham said in an interview with the CBS program, "The only question is, will they call witnesses? How long will the trial last?"

News (5)

Democrats admit impeachment may be unconstitutional

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy supports the conviction of Trump. In an interview with Fox News Sunday, he said that the Senate has the responsibility to interrogate the former president, even if he admits that Paul made a reasonable point that the trial is unconstitutional.

"I admit that this is of course a question of first impressions, so I don't think the views put forward by Senator Paul are absurd." He said.

Other senior Republicans also believe that the possibility of Trump being convicted is very small. If he is convicted, it may result in him being barred from holding public office in the future.

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy (Bill Cassidy) condemned the House of Representatives impeachment process, saying it tainted the Senate process.

“Let’s face it, the House of Representatives did a terrible job of filing the case before the impeachment vote,” Cassidy said in an NBC interview. “There is no procedure. I mean, it’s almost like, you know, if It happened in the Soviet Union, you would call it a performance interrogation."

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have publicly stated that they want the trial to proceed quickly because the Senate cannot advance its legislative priorities until the trial is completed. Many Republicans condemned the trial as a partisan activity that will have no results.