In the US Senate, in the near future, on February 9, the process of the second impeachment of Donald Trump will start. The already former US President is accused of inciting the crowd to storm the Capitol earlier this year. What are the chances of his opponents to take revenge on the former head of the White House and throw him out of big politics?
Most experts doubt Donald Trump will be convicted. Although many Republicans sharply criticized Trump for telling his supporters to “fight like hell” and go to the Capitol, their criticism of the ex-president has since softened, writes Associated Press.
It would take two-thirds of the 100-member Senate vote to convict Trump on an impeachment charge. To reach that threshold, if all 50 Democrats vote to declare the former president guilty, 17 Republicans would have to join them.
Most Republicans avoided defending Trump’s actions on the day of the Capitol riots. Instead, lawmakers argued that the trial was unconstitutional as Trump was no longer in power. Democrats and many legal scholars disagree with this statement.
The Associated Press predicts that Trump’s team is likely to try to focus on legal and practical arguments against the conviction.
In their first filing for the trial, the ex-president’s lawyers made it clear that they would challenge the constitutionality of the trial now that Trump has left the White House.
The defense could also argue that the trial is meaningless since Trump is no longer president because removal from office is an automatic penalty for an impeachment conviction. Democrats claim that after conviction, the Senate can also ban Trump from holding public office in the future.
To the extent that defense lawyers are forced to fight the violence and chaos of January 6, they probably acknowledge the horror of that day, but blame the rioters who stormed the Capitol for it. Trump’s lawyers say Trump never instigated an uprising.
The position of the prosecution is that without Trump there would be no riots, so he needs to be brought to justice. In this context, the emphasis could be on the fact that the riots killed five people, and lawmakers themselves could have become victims if they had not been evacuated on time before the crowd broke into the Congress building.
It is unlikely that Trump will appear in person at the impeachment hearings. He rejected, through his lawyers, the impeachment managers’ request to testify. No subpoenas to compel him to testify are expected at this time. Since Trump is at his Florida resort, his lawyers will have to speak on his behalf.
The likelihood of Trump’s acquittal worries some senators who fear the consequences for the country. Some have speculated about the possibility of a post-trial conviction for Trump to ensure that he is somehow punished for the riot.
But Congress may have another way to bar Trump from holding office in the future, writes Associated Press. In a January article in The Washington Post, Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman and Indiana University law professor Gerard Magliokka asked Congress to address a 14th Amendment clause that seeks to prevent people from holding federal office if they “participated in an uprising or mutiny against the Constitution.
The professors wrote that if the majority of votes in both houses agree that Trump is participating in an act of “rebellion or insurrection”, then he will be barred from running again for the White House. Only two-thirds of the votes in each house of Congress in the future can reverse this result.
The fact that Trump may lead the Republicans in the next presidential election scares the Democrats most of all, Valery Garbuzov, director of the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, comments to MK on the impeachment situation: “If Trump remains and continues to be active in various areas, he will criticize the Democrats, yes if he still leads the Republican factions in the House of Representatives and the Senate, this may be the direst danger that Democrats could face. Therefore, their majority, which can hold out in Congress for two years, under the influence of the Trumpists and Trump, may be lost in the next midterm elections. ”
“Therefore,” the expert says, “the stake is placed on a second impeachment. By all accounts, it will not work. In addition, this whole idea is dubious: how to remove from office a person who is not in this position? But according to the Democrats, this must be done in order to deprive him of all presidential privileges. And this applies not only to pensions and security – the former president in this case turns into an ordinary person, into whom all the courts grab. And there are many claims to Trump in this regard – ranging from his business activities and tax evasion, various financial frauds. This persecution could have been promoted, but his tenure as the president put it all on hold. And now if the democrats succeed in doing something in this direction, it will not serve as an obstacle. But they are unlikely to be able to do something. This impeachment would be too unusual. And it is very difficult for them to get the necessary majority in the Senate. Getting the 17 votes needed for impeachment from Republican senators is a problem. Although in the Republican Party, under the influence of the events that preceded Biden’s inauguration, there was a process of getting rid of the Trumpists, many began to speak out against Trump and even tried to get rid of him, now many, even among the party elite, are asking the question: “Why is Trump bad? We have no other leader, and hardly anyone else will be able to raise the conservatives to the next battle for the White House. ” Therefore, a kind of moment of truth has come for the Republican elite – whether to get rid of Trumpism completely or to strengthen it in their ranks, because Trumpism increases the competitiveness of the Republican Party in the fight against Democrats. ” And it is very difficult for them to get the necessary majority in the Senate. Getting the 17 votes needed for impeachment from Republican senators is a problem. Although in the Republican Party, under the influence of the events that preceded Biden’s inauguration, there was a process of getting rid of the Trumpists, many began to speak out against Trump and even tried to get rid of him, now many, even among the party elite, are asking the question: “Why is Trump bad? We have no other leader, and hardly anyone else will be able to raise the conservatives to the next battle for the White House. ” Therefore, a kind of moment of truth has come for the Republican elite – whether to get rid of Trumpism completely or strengthen it in their ranks, because Trumpism increases the competitiveness of the Republican Party in the fight against Democrats. ” And it is very difficult for them to get the necessary majority in the Senate. Getting the 17 votes needed for impeachment from Republican senators is a problem. Although in the Republican Party, under the influence of the events that preceded Biden’s inauguration, there was a process of getting rid of the Trumpists, many began to speak out against Trump and even tried to get rid of him, now many, even among the party elite, are asking the question: “Why is Trump bad? We have no other leader, and hardly anyone else will be able to raise the conservatives to the next battle for the White House. ” Therefore, a kind of moment of truth has come for the Republican elite – whether to get rid of Trumpism completely or strengthen it in their ranks, because Trumpism increases the competitiveness of the Republican Party in the fight against Democrats. ” Getting the 17 votes needed for impeachment from Republican senators is a problem. Although in the Republican Party, under the influence of the events that preceded Biden’s inauguration, there was a process of getting rid of the Trumpists, many began to speak out against Trump and even tried to get rid of him, now many, even among the party elite, are asking the question: “Why is Trump bad? We have no other leader, and hardly anyone else will be able to raise the conservatives to the next battle for the White House. ” Therefore, a kind of moment of truth has come for the Republican elite – whether to get rid of Trumpism completely or strengthen it in their ranks, because Trumpism increases the competitiveness of the Republican Party in the fight against Democrats. ” Getting the 17 votes needed for impeachment from Republican senators is a problem. Although in the Republican Party, under the influence of the events that preceded Biden’s inauguration, there was a process of getting rid of the Trumpists, many began to speak out against Trump and even tried to get rid of him, now many, even among the party elite, are asking the question: “Why is Trump bad? We have no other leader, and hardly anyone else will be able to raise the conservatives to the next battle for the White House. ” Therefore, a kind of moment of truth has come for the Republican elite – whether to get rid of Trumpism completely or strengthen it in their ranks, because Trumpism increases the competitiveness of the Republican Party in the fight against Democrats. ” which preceded Biden’s inauguration, there was a process to get rid of the Trumpists, many began to speak out against Trump and even tried to get rid of him, now many, even among the party elite, are asking the question: “Why is Trump bad? We have no other leader, and hardly anyone else will be able to raise the conservatives to the next battle for the White House. ” Therefore, a kind of moment of truth has come for the Republican elite – whether to get rid of Trumpism completely or strengthen it in their ranks, because Trumpism increases the competitiveness of the Republican Party in the fight against Democrats. ” which preceded Biden’s inauguration, there was a process to get rid of the Trumpists, many began to speak out against Trump and even tried to get rid of him, now many, even among the party elite, are asking the question: “Why is Trump bad? We have no other leader, and hardly anyone else will be able to raise the conservatives to the next battle for the White House. ” Therefore, a kind of moment of truth has come for the Republican elite – whether to get rid of Trumpism completely or strengthen it in their ranks, because Trumpism increases the competitiveness of the Republican Party in the fight against Democrats. ” and hardly anyone else will be able to rouse the Conservatives to the next battle for the White House. ” Therefore, a kind of moment of truth has come for the Republican elite – whether to get rid of Trumpism completely or strengthen it in their ranks, because Trumpism increases the competitiveness of the Republican Party in the fight against Democrats. ” and hardly anyone else will be able to rouse the Conservatives to the next battle for the White House. ” Therefore, a kind of moment of truth has come for the Republican elite – whether to get rid of Trumpism completely or strengthen it in their ranks, because Trumpism increases the competitiveness of the Republican Party in the fight against Democrats.”
