Fearing Trump in 2024, Will Democrats Pursue the 14th Amendment? Commentary With the Senate’s recent vote to acquit President Donald Trump, it’s worth reminding ourselves that an impeachment is, as author and historian Victor Davis Hansen describes, an “indictment process” and that the Senate is where the “trial” is actually held. It’s also worth noting that a Senate trial should never have been held in the first place, as Trump had already left office and was, by this time, a private citizen. This fact had already been acknowledged by John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, who refused to preside over the Senate hearings.