{"id":92681,"date":"2021-02-10T06:37:48","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T11:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=92681"},"modified":"2021-02-10T06:37:48","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T11:37:48","slug":"auto-draft-490","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2021\/02\/10\/auto-draft-490\/","title":{"rendered":"US Senate to Proceed with Trump Impeachment Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"VOA \u2014 WASHINGTON – House Democrats prosecuting the impeachment of former U.S. President Donald Trump are set to lay out their case Wednesday as they try to convince Senators serving as jurors to convict Trump of inciting insurrection at the Capitol last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The House impeachment managers and Trump\u2019s defense will each have 16 hours over the course of two days to present their case, after which Senators will be given a total of four hours for questioning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Senate voted 56-44 Tuesday to hear the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The vote followed four hours of impassioned arguments from the two sides, with Democratic lawmakers arguing Trump must be held accountable for his actions and the former president\u2019s defense contending an impeachment trial after the end of his term is unconstitutional.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Congressman Jamie\u00a0Raskin, the Democrat\u2019s lead impeachment manager, said Tuesday that not holding the trial would create a \u201cdangerous\u201d new exception for a president to act with impunity in their final weeks in office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s an invitation to the president to take his best shot at anything he may want to do on his way out the door,\u201d\u00a0Raskin\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Acting<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
Acting Sergeant at Arms Timothy Blodgett, right, leads Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., second from right, the lead Democratic House impeachment manager, and other impeachment managers, through the Rotunda to the Senate, Feb. 9, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Video of January 6 violence\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Democrats showed the Senate a dramatic video of the chaos that unfolded in the Capitol on January 6\u00a0when\u00a0a\u00a0pro-Trump mob stormed\u00a0past authorities\u00a0and\u00a0sent\u00a0lawmakers scrambling for safety.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The attack, which ended with five people dead,\u00a0came shortly after members of Congress started to certify Joe Biden\u2019s victory over Trump in the November election.\u00a0\u00a0Trump had spent two months baselessly alleging voter fraud, and at a rally that day outside the White House he continued, telling his supporters, \u201cif you don’t fight like\u00a0hell\u00a0you’re not going to have a country anymore.\u201d\u00a0 He encouraged them multiple times to march to the Capitol.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Raskin\u00a0recalled that his chief of staff, daughter and son-in-law were forced to barricade themselves in House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s office.\u00a0 He said they\u00a0hid under a desk while rioters banged on the door, “placing what they thought were their final texts and whispered phone calls to say their goodbyes. They thought they were\u00a0gonna\u00a0die.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"FILE<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
FILE – Supporters of then-President Donald Trump riot in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Raskin\u00a0said every day a president is in office \u201che\u2019s prohibited from committing high crimes and misdemeanors\u201d \u2014 the standard for conviction on impeachment charges \u2014 and cannot avoid responsibility for the deadly mayhem at the Capitol because he now is out of office.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump lawyer Bruce Castor Jr. rejected the premise that not holding the trial would create a loophole for avoiding responsibility, saying, \u201cThe idea of a January exception is nonsense.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0He said that if Trump committed any offenses, \u201carrest him,\u201d now that he is a private citizen and no longer immune from prosecution.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Castor quoted the Constitution saying that conviction on impeachment charges \u201cshall not extend further than removal from office,\u201d an impossibility since Trump\u2019s term has already ended.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe object of the Constitution has already been achieved,\u201d Castor said. \u201cHe was removed by the voters.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s other lawyer, David Schoen, accused Democrats of pursuing the impeachment case against him \u201cto eliminate Donald Trump from the American political scene.\u201d He said \u201cpure, raw, misguided partisanship\u201d was at the heart of the Democrats\u2019 case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last month,\u00a0Republican\u00a0Senator Rand Paul, a staunch Trump supporter, attempted to block the trial on the same constitutional grounds, but five Republicans joined all 50\u00a0members of the\u00a0Democratic caucus\u00a0in voting 55-45 to proceed with the trial.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the new vote Tuesday, another Republican, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, also voted to go ahead with the trial.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"In<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
In this image from video, the vote total on the question of the constitutionality of the impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump is displayed in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Feb. 9, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tuesday’s vote to proceed was expected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last month, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a staunch Trump supporter, attempted to block the trial on the same constitutional grounds, but five Republicans joined all 50 Democrats in voting 55-45 to proceed with the trial. \u00a0<\/p>\n

In the new vote Tuesday, another Republican, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, also voted to go ahead with the trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WATCH: Senate vote<\/strong><\/p>\n

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