By Syndicated Content
By Jan Wolfe
(Reuters) - The upcoming second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, focusing on a charge of inciting the deadly Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by his followers, has prompted a debate over whether the proceeding is constitutional.
Some legal experts have said it is appropriate to hold the trial after Trump has left office, but there is no clear answer in the U.S. Constitution and no court has ruled on the issue. Many Senate Republicans have said they would vote to acquit Trump on that basis. Democrats note that the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump a week before he left office.
By Syndicated Content
By Jan Wolfe
(Reuters) - The upcoming second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, focusing on a charge of inciting the deadly Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by his followers, has prompted a debate over whether the proceeding is constitutional.
Some legal experts have said it is appropriate to hold the trial after Trump has left office, but there is no clear answer in the U.S. Constitution and no court has ruled on the issue. Many Senate Republicans have said they would vote to acquit Trump on that basis. Democrats note that the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump a week before he left office.
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Many Senate Republicans say they haven’t yet decided where they stand on Donald Trump’s conviction in an impeachment trial. But if past is at all precedent and a recent vote seems to suggest it is a majority are likely inclined to let him off the hook.
In a vote on the constitutionality of the trial on Tuesday, just five of the 50-member Republican conference sided with Democrats in favor of moving forward, an indication that the other 45 members were questioning the validity of the proceedings or using that argument as a way to get out of what will probably be a politically challenging situation. The vote was largely viewed as a sign that the majority of Republicans weren’t open to convicting the former president, though several lawmakers emphasized that they still planned to weigh the evidence.
POLITICO
Democrats look to quickly move past Trump trial
The new Senate majority is eager to turn to Biden’s agenda now that it’s clear Republicans won’t convict the ex-president.
“To do a trial knowing you ll get 55 votes at the max seems to me to be not the right prioritization of our time,” Sen. Tim Kaine told reporters Wednesday. | Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images
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Even before Donald Trump’s impeachment trial begins, some Senate Democrats are getting ready to speed to the end. After only five Republican senators joined Democrats in a vote Tuesday essentially declaring that Trump’s trial was constitutional, some in the new majority are signaling they’d like to quickly focus their attention elsewhere. If it wasn’t obvious before, they say, it’s now clear the GOP isn’t going to convict Trump.