If The Senate Holds A Trial When Will It Be And What Would It Look Like
This impeachment is coming at a time of transition for both the presidency and the Senate. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won last weeks Georgia special elections, but since the results havent been certified yet, they have not yet been sworn in, and Mitch McConnell is still the chambers majority leader.
The deadline for Georgia to certify its results is on January 22, though Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger has said he hopes to get it done a bit before that. But if Warnock and Ossoff are sworn in while Trump is still president, the Senate would be split 50-50 and Vice President Pence would still be around to break ties in Republicans favor. So only after Harris is sworn in as vice president and Warnock and Ossoff are sworn in as senators will control of the chamber flip to Democrats.
The upshot is that, at least until January 20 and potentially for a few days after that, McConnell and Republicans still call the shots in the Senate. And while Republicans are in control, they get to decide whether to start the trial.
But on Wednesday, McConnell announced that he would not agree to reconvene the Senate early. He said in a statement that there was no way a trial could wrap up before Biden is sworn in, and that he thought national leaders should focus on ensuring a safe inauguration over the next week, rather than on an impeachment trial.
Mueller Report And Impeachment Debate
Special Counsel investigation Mueller Report
A Department of Justice spokesperson called Nadler’s subpoena “premature and unnecessary,” detailing that the publicly released version of the report had “minimal redactions” and that Barr had made arrangements for Nadler and other lawmakers to review a version of the final report with fewer redactions.
House majority leader Steny Hoyer said, “Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point.” while Speaker Nancy Pelosi was more noncommittal, telling the majority caucus: “We will update you on the next steps that must be taken. The caucus held a conference call on April 22 to discuss the matter. It was decided to go full bore on the investigations and deal with actual impeachment later.
After reading the report, Representative Justin Amash in May 2019 became the first Republican member of Congress to call for Trump’s impeachment, saying Trump had engaged in “impeachable conduct”. Amash was also critical of Attorney General Barr, stating that he felt Barr had deliberately misrepresented the contents of the report. Shortly thereafter, former long-serving Republican congressman Tom Coleman also called for Trump’s impeachment. In addition, conservative attorney George Conway, husband of Kellyanne Conway, called for Trump’s impeachment.
Trump Impeached For ‘inciting’ Us Capitol Riot In Historic Second Charge
Watch the moment President Trump was impeached for a second time
Donald Trump has become the first president in US history to be impeached twice, after being charged with “incitement of insurrection” over last week’s deadly storming of Congress.
The House of Representatives accused Mr Trump of encouraging violence with his false claims of election fraud.
He now faces trial in the upper chamber, the Senate, but not before he leaves office next Wednesday.
Senators can vote to bar him from ever holding public office again.
In a video released after the vote in the House on Wednesday, Mr Trump called on his followers to remain peaceful, without mentioning his impeachment.
“Violence and vandalism have no place in our country… No true supporter of mine would ever endorse political violence,” he said, striking a sombre and conciliatory tone.
The FBI has warned of possible armed protests planned for Washington DC and all 50 US state capitals in the days before Joe Biden, a Democrat, is inaugurated as the new US president.
Trump: ‘Violence and vandalism have no place in our country’
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Trump Impeachment: The Short Medium And Long Story
You may have heard this one before: a controversy involving a foreign power that threatened the future of the Trump presidency.
Donald Trump was impeached over allegations he improperly sought help from Ukraine to boost his chances of re-election.
In the end, he was cleared on two charges by a majority of senators at this trial.
How did we get here? Let’s break it down.
President Trump was accused of breaking the law by pressuring Ukraine’s leader to dig up damaging information on a political rival.
In July 2019, he urged his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate one of the frontrunners to take him on in the 2020 presidential election. This mattered, opposition Democrats said, because it is illegal to ask foreign entities for help in winning a US election. He says he has done nothing wrong.
After Mr Trump was impeached in December, a trial took place that could have led to the president being removed. In the end, he was cleared.
At the heart of this story was a complaint from an unknown whistleblower.
In August 2019, an anonymous intelligence official wrote a letter expressing concern over President Trump’s 25 July phone conversation with Ukraine’s president.
The official spoke of an “urgent concern” that Mr Trump had used his office to “solicit interference from a foreign country” in the 2020 election.
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Report And Additional Materials
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Second Impeachment Of Donald Trump
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| The House of Representatives votes to adopt the article of impeachment |
| Accused |
| Acquitted by the U.S. Senate |
| Charges |
| Voting in the U.S. Senate |
| Accusation |
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Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, was impeached for the second time on January 13, 2021, one week before his term expired. It was the fourth impeachment of a U.S. president, and the second for Trump after his first impeachment in December 2019. Ten Republican representatives voted for the second impeachment, the most pro-impeachment votes ever from a president’s party. This was also the first presidential impeachment in which the majority caucus voted unanimously for impeachment.
Whats The Senates Role In The Impeachment Process
The Senate holds a trial to assess the Houses charges aimed at deciding whether to remove an impeached president from office.
In this trial, the House of Representatives acts as a prosecutor, and chooses certain impeachment managers to argue their case in the Senate. Then, the presidents lawyers are the defense team the president does not have to appear in person and historically has not. The chief justice of the Supreme Court presides and is responsible for making procedural rulings during the trial but the Senate can vote to overrule his decisions.
Now, though this is referred to as a trial, it is, again, a political and not legal process, so it doesnt have to follow the ordinary rules and practices of a criminal trial. Again, its up the Senate to decide how to structure it for instance, they can call witnesses to give live testimony , or decide not to .
At the end, though, this trial ends in a vote on each article of impeachment to either convict or acquit the president. A vote to convict on even one article will remove the president from office.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell showed no interest before the trial in subpoenaing witnesses who did not testify before the House. Ultimately, the Senate voted not to call any witnesses.
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On Whether To Hold A Trial
Senator Richard Blumenthal said: “The evidence is Trump’s own words, recorded on video. It’s a question of whether Republicans want to step up and face history.” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said, “This is a very simple allegation. It is incitement to insurrection. We could conduct a trial in a concise amount of time because the evidence that’s needed is pretty direct.” In the run-up to the trial, a number of Republican senators opposed holding a trial. Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky continued to make false claims of election fraud. Other Senate Republicans, such as of Florida, contended that a Senate trial would be too divisive and that it would be “arrogant” for the Senate to exercise its power to bar Trump from holding office in the future.
After The 2018 Midterm Elections
On March 11, 2019, Nancy Pelosi said, “I’m not for impeachment, Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it. No. I don’t think he is. I mean, ethically unfit. Intellectually unfit. Curiosity wise unfit. No, I don’t think he’s fit to be president of the United States.” She then scolded herself for “coming across too negatively”.
With the Democrats in control of the House, and with a direct impeachment inquiry deemed somewhat toxic, the work of investigations into Trump’s possible crimes were divided into several committees while waiting for some outside force, such as the Mueller probe or the Southern District to force the Democratic leadership’s hands.
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Unredacted Version Of Mueller Report
The House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed the unredacted Mueller report and Attorney General Barr has rebuffed this, leading to a contempt citation from the committee. A lawsuit is also contemplated.
On July 26, 2019, the Judiciary Committee asked federal judge Beryl Howell, who oversaw the Mueller grand juries, to unseal the secret testimony because the committee is “investigating whether to recommend articles of impeachment” to the full House. Howell ruled in favor of the request on October 25, 2019, finding the impeachment investigation legitimate.
On November 18, 2019, The House counsel filed a brief with Judge Howell to release the materials immediately, as redacted grand jury testimony appeared to show the President perjured himself before the Mueller probe and it was part of the impeachment inquiry.
On December 16, another brief by the HJC, said that they still needed the materials, as some redacted materials appear to be related to the Ukraine matter.Previously, an appellate court had scheduled oral arguments in the case for January 3, 2020.
What Was Trump Accused Of
The impeachment charges focused on Mr Trump’s request that Kyiv announce a corruption investigation into Joe Biden, a Democratic White House candidate, and his son Hunter Biden.
Mr Trump has argued that the younger Biden improperly held a board position with a Ukrainian natural gas firm while his father was US vice-president and in charge of American-Ukrainian relations.
Democrats accused Mr Trump of abusing his power by withholding $391m in security aid to prod Ukraine’s president into digging up dirt on the Bidens.
They also charged Mr Trump with obstruction of Congress after the White House blocked testimony and documents sought by the House impeachment investigators.
The impeachment inquiry stemmed from Mr Trump’s phone call on 25 July 2019 in which he asked Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to “do us a favour”.
Following a complaint from an anonymous government whistleblower, Democrats launched their investigation in September, compiling a 28,000-page report.
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Full National Impact Of 2nd Trump Impeachment Could Take Decades To Unpack
Donald Trumps status as the only U.S. president to be impeached twice may be his most lasting legacy one that is far different than how he might have been remembered prior to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol January 6 by his supporters.
Presidential historian Barbara Perry says that despite Trumps reputation for norm-breaking, racism and online bullying, the former president fulfilled many of the main promises he made on the campaign trail in 2016.
Maybe more than most presidents, he made good on his promises, says Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.
He lowered taxes on the wealthy. He limited and reduced federal regulations. He put conservatives to the tune of over 200 federal judges on the lower federal courts and three conservative members of the U.S. Supreme Court. He engaged in strong-arm tactics against China. He built part of his wall on the southern border and attempted to reduce, and succeeded in reducing, illegal immigration.
Forecasting how historians will perceive and treat the 45th president decades from now is a risky endeavor. Perspectives change over time. Yet Perry and other students of politics agree that Trumps trial for inciting insurrection, which begins this week, will likely obscure or taint the most notable accomplishments achieved during his presidency.
Historic proceeding
Impeachment
Serious disruption
Insurrection
Road to healing
Hearings And Investigations: Apriljuly 2019
- Nadler says redacted Mueller report might necessitate impeachment.
- House Judiciary Committee issues subpoena demanding the unredacted report and its underlying evidence.
- HJC issues subpoena for former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify on his statements as exhibited by the special counsel in his report.
- President Trump issues orders retroactively asserting executive privilege over all testimony given to the special counsel by McGahn and others given subpoenas by the HJC.
- Attorney General Barr threatens to boycott scheduled hearings and Nadler threatens a subpoena if he does.
- May 2: Barr boycotts hearings
- May 8: House Judiciary committee recommends Barr be held in contempt of Congress in a 24â16 vote for not complying with the subpoena.
- May 23: Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee introduces H.Res. 396, which is referred to the Rules committee.
- May 29:Robert Mueller addresses the nation on the Russia probe, saying: “the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.”
- : House Judiciary committee announces a series of hearings related to the Mueller Report titled “Presidential Obstruction and Other Crimes”.
- Barr offers to resume negotiations on testimony and materials if the HJC cancels contempt citation. Nadler refuses.
- Former Trump aides Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson formally defy HJC subpoenas at the behest of the president.
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Why Was Donald Trump Impeached The First Time
- 2:48 ET, Jan 14 2021
DONALD Trump has become the first president in US history to be impeached for a second time.
Democrats in the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for inciting a riot after the shocking scenes in the Capitol that took place on January 6.
Read our Donald Trump live blog for the very latest news on the President…
Procedural Resolution And Debate
On January 20, McConnell presented a resolution providing procedures for the trial, subject to approval by a simple majority vote. The resolution provided the White House counsel and House impeachment managers 24 hours each over two days to make opening statements, beginning at 1:00 p.m. each day. The next day, the resolution was amended to extend opening statements to three days. Opening statements were to be followed by 16 hours of questions and answers, followed by four hours of debate and a vote on whether to consider witnesses or new information. Minority leader Schumer criticized the resolution as a “national disgrace” because it did not automatically include evidence from the House inquiry and rushed the trial, while the White House was pleased with the proposal. The next day, McConnell amended his resolution to automatically include the House inquiry evidence unless a simple majority vote prohibited it. The White House and its Senate allies were confident they could garner the simple majority needed to prevent calling witnesses, though they worked on a fallback plan if Bolton was compelled to testify by asserting national security concerns to move his testimony to a closed-door session. Some conservatives floated a proposal to permit Bolton’s testimony in exchange for requiring Hunter Biden to testify, which Democrats rejected. Biden had been the subject of baseless conspiracy theories related to his business activities in Ukraine.
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