Update (1732ET): The US Senate on Tuesday voted 56-44 that it is constitutional to hold an impeachment trial against Former President Donald Trump.
Highlights:
- Lead Democratic impeachment manager Jamie Raskin played a video montage of Trump encouraging his followers to attend the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally, followed by footage of mayhem.
- Raskin cited several conservative legal scholars who have said it’s constitutional to impeach an official after they’ve left office.
- He then listed examples of Constitutional framers discussing the threshold for impeachment, suggesting that it’s “inconceivable” that it wouldn’t apply to actions committed during a president’s last few days in office.
- Trump’s counsel argued that Democrats want to impeach Trump to prevent him from running again in 2024, and conceded that the Trump legal team changed their presentation “on account that we thought that the House managers’ presentation was well done.”
- Castor then argued that Democrats got what they wanted when Trump was voted out of office.
- Schoen then showed a video of Democrats calling for Trump’s impeachment beginning in 2017, before arguing that the House conducted a “snap impeachment” following the Jan. 6 riot.
He then argued that because Trump is a private citizen and cannot be removed from office, the trial is unconstitutional – with which 44 GOP Senators agreed.
The 56-44 vote means that the trial will begin in earnest tomorrow. All Democrats and the following six Republicans voted to proceed: Sens. Cassidy (R-LA), Romney (R-UT), Collins (R-ME), Toomey (R-PA), Murkowski (R-AK) and Sasse (R-NE).
The vote is 44-56 on the constitutional issue. Virtually the same as the earlier vote. That means that 44 senators are now on record that the trial in unconstitutional. That would appear to make acquittal effectively certain given this threshold vote… https://t.co/1H4CNOn8qU
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) February 9, 2021
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Update (1602ET): Trump attorney Bruce Castor Jr. began Trump’s legal defense by condemning those responsible for the violence at the Capitol.
“You will never hear anybody representing former President Trump say anything at all other than, what happened on January 6th in the storming and the breaching of the Capitol should be denounced in the most vigorous terms,” he said, before arguing that it’s unconstitutional for the Senate to hold a trial to convict a former president, and suggesting that Democrats are really impeaching Trump to bar him from running in the future.
“We are really here because the majority in the House of Representatives does not want to face Donald Trump as a political rival in the future,” Trump impeachment lawyer Bruce Castor argues. https://t.co/tpW7rrCNnD #impeachmenttrial pic.twitter.com/JrO8Uz3Zoj
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 9, 2021
Constitutional attorney Jonathan Turley, an impeachment witness during Trump’s first Senate trial, appears largely unimpressed, though agreed with Castor making a “Rule 23” argument.
I am surprised by the long discussion of the Senate before getting to such concrete arguments. There is also no focus on the retroactive trial issue as a foreshadowing of the case for dismissal.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) February 9, 2021
Turley then suggested Trump’s legal team get to the heart of the constitutional question.
…The defense has eaten roughly half of its time without landing a glove on the constitutional questions. Schoen was said to be the one who would present an “erudite” analysis of the constitutional issue.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) February 9, 2021
Attorney Alan Dershowitz, a member of Trump’s first impeachment defense team, is similarly unimpressed – telling Newsmax “I have no idea what he is doing,” referring to Castor (h/t @joshdcaplan).
‘There is no argument – I have no idea what he is doing,’ @AlanDersh on Trump’s defense lawyer Bruce Castor ‘talking nice’ to U.S. Senators – via Newsmax TV’s ‘American Agenda.’ https://t.co/VlT7z8drtO pic.twitter.com/7P7uVk5X19
— Newsmax (@newsmax) February 9, 2021
Update (1547ET): House Democrats’ lead impeachment manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin began the day…
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