WASHINGTON – US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to send the Senate asingle article of impeachment Monday accusing Donald Trump of inciting theCapitol riot, formally triggering the first-ever impeachment trial of aformer president.
Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, vowed last week that the trial –already scheduled to open in the second week of February — should proceed,saying, “I don’t think it will be long, but we must do it.”
But Republican lawmakers signaled over the weekend that Democrats maystruggle to secure Trump’s conviction over the storming of US legislativebuildings earlier this month, which left five people dead.
Senior figures in Trump’s party have pushed back with both political andconstitutional arguments, raising doubts that Democrats — who control 50seats in the 100-seat chamber — can secure the 17 Republican votes toreach the two-thirds majority needed to convict.
“I think the trial is stupid. I think it’s counterproductive. We alreadyhave a flaming fire in this country and it’s like taking a bunch ofgasoline and pouring it on top,” Marco Rubio, the top Republican on theSenate Intelligence Committee, told Fox News Sunday.
He acknowledged that Trump — who had urged thousands of his supporters toflock to Washington and protest the congressional certification of JoeBiden’s victory — “bears some responsibility for what happened.”
But to “stir it up again” could only hurt the country, said Rubio, apresidential candidate beaten by Trump in the 2016 primary.
Constitutional question
Other Republicans argued that the Senate has no authority to put a privatecitizen — as Trump now is — on trial.
Senator Mike Rounds told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the constitution doesnot allow for the impeachment of a former president.
But Senator Mitt Romney, the Republicans’ 2012 presidential candidate and afrequent Trump critic, told CNN that “the preponderance of legal opinion isthat an impeachment trial after a president has left office isconstitutional. I believe that’s the case.”
The Utah Republican — the only member of his party to vote to convictTrump in his first impeachment trial — hinted that he may be leaning thesame way now.
He said he believed “that what is being alleged and what we saw, which isincitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense. If not, what is?”
The Capitol riots were documented on videos seen around the world — aswere Trump’s earlier exhortations to the crowd to “fight” for hispresidency — complicating his defense.
His case may have suffered further after The New York Times reported Fridaythat Trump had considered ousting the US acting attorney general in favorof a low-ranking official receptive to his efforts to overturn the electionresult.
Hands-off approach
Biden has publicly taken a hands-off approach to the impeachment, eager toput Trump in the rear-view mirror and seek progress on fighting thecoronavirus pandemic and reviving a devastated economy.
Biden spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the president “believes that it’s upto the Senate and Congress to determine how they will hold the formerpresident accountable.”
As Democrats worked to prepare the case against Trump, one of those whowill present it in the Senate — Representative Madeleine Dean — said shehoped it would move quickly.
“I would expect it would go faster” than the 2020 impeachment trial, whichlasted 21 days, she told CNN.
The trial, however, will be a test for senators: Democrats hope to devotepart of each day to regular business, but the furies always surroundingTrump seem sure to undercut any bid for bipartisan cooperation.
Dean said she was in the House chamber during the “terrifying moment” whenthe invading mob began pounding on its doors, chanting: “Hang VicePresident Pence.”
She said Democrats would demand accountability of Trump for “anextraordinarily heinous presidential crime.”
And Daniel Goldman, who was lead counsel for the House’s first impeachmentinquiry, tweeted Sunday that “the only way to ensure this lawless,authoritarian, anti-democratic conduct never happens again is to hold himaccountable.”
The House of Representatives impeached Trump for a historic second time onJanuary 13, just one week before he left office.
The article of impeachment will be delivered and read out to the Senate onMonday at 7:00 pm (0000 GMT Tuesday). The chamber’s 100 members will besworn in as trial jurors the next day. -APP/AFP