The Senate on Feb. 9 will take the unprecedented step of putting a former president on trial.
Donald Trump, who left office on Jan. 20 and now lives at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, faces an impeachment charge for inciting an insurrection that led to the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
It will be the second time Trump goes on trial in the Senate.
He was acquitted a year ago on two House impeachment articles charging him with abuse of power and obstructing Congress.
Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah was the only Republican to join Democrats in the failed attempt to convict Trump last year.
This time, more Republicans could vote to convict him.
Senate Republicans expressed outrage at the Capitol attack by a mob of angry Trump supporters. They have blamed Trump for inciting the crowd when he repeated claims that the November election was fraudulently won by President Biden.
But the number of Republicans willing to convict Trump will probably be far short of the 17 GOP lawmakers needed to convict.
“The way that I’ve really looked at it is, it’s, in my opinion, we don’t have the status. We don’t have the jurisdiction in this case because he is a normal person again,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican. “He is not a president.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, will preside while also serving as a juror. It’s not clear whether Chief Justice John Roberts was asked to oversee the trial or declined an invitation.
Republicans have said that Leahy’s role underscores the illegitimacy of putting a former president on trial in the Senate, which is not addressed in the Constitution.
For Democrats, however, the motive is twofold. The party seeks to force Republicans to acquit Trump, whose post-presidency influence remains powerful among key voters and showcases Trump as a danger to the United States.
On Thursday, head House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, requested that Trump appear to testify in the Senate in person, citing a pretrial brief filed by Trump’s legal team that denied the impeachment charge.
“Two days ago, you filed an Answer in which you denied many factual allegations set forth in the article of impeachment,” Raskin wrote to Trump. “You have thus attempted to put critical facts at issue notwithstanding the clear and overwhelming evidence of your constitutional offense. In light of your disputing these factual allegations, I write to invite you to provide testimony under oath, either before or during the Senate impeachment trial, concerning your conduct on January 6, 2021.”
Trump won’t testify, his lawyer told media outlets on Thursday.
Republicans scoffed at the invitation, calling it proof that the impeachment trial is political. The GOP contends that the House impeachment vote was rushed. There were no hearings and no witnesses before the Jan. 13 vote, which passed with the support of all Democrats and 10 Republicans, including House GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming.
“It’s just a nightmare for the country to do this,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said of Raskin’s request that Trump testify. “It’s just a political showboat move to do this, and they didn’t call him in the House.”
Even some Democrats oppose Trump testifying.
“I think it’s a terrible idea,” said Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat.
“Boy, that would be a dog and pony show,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat.
Democrats and Republicans have yet to secure a deal on the trial’s length or whether to call witnesses. A lengthy trial threatens to impede the new Biden administration’s agenda, which aims to pass a new round of coronavirus aid and other key legislation.
Trump’s 2020 impeachment trial lasted three weeks. No new witnesses were called after GOP senators defeated a new testimony motion, citing an extensive hearing process in the House.
This time, the chief eyewitnesses are the senators, who had to evacuate from the Senate chamber as angry protesters pushed their way through the Capitol. Some of them ended up in the well of the Senate.
“We were all witnesses to the events that day, when a group of insurrectionists, white supremacists, and domestic terrorists, fed a cavalcade of lies about the legitimacy of the American elections by the former president … invaded and desecrated this sacred temple of democracy with the intention of denying the counting of the Electoral College vote, the final act in certifying the former president’s defeat,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat.
