Division among Democratic senators over the need to present witnesses during impeachment
The United States House of Representatives has sent the Senate on Monday the article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump for “inciting rebellion” during the riots and the assault on the Capitol on January 6, thus formally triggering the start of a new impeachment against him, the second in less than a year.
The representative for Maryland, Jamie Raskin, seconded by eight other fellow House Democrats, has been in charge of reading these accusations in the Senate, which must now decide whether to start a process to convict Trump, which if so He would be disqualified from holding public office, when there is speculation about his possible candidacy for the presidential elections of 2024.
However, the Senate vote is expected to be delayed until next February 8, after the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, and his counterpart of the Republican minority, Mitch McConnell, agreed to give more time to the team. Trump legal so that he could prepare his defense.
WAITING TO MARK THE ‘IMPEACHMENT’ RULES
For the first time in more than 230 years of history, the Senate has received an impeachment impeachment against a former White House tenant, although Democrats and Republicans have yet to agree on how it will be done.
Schumer and McConnell have yet to establish the basic structure of the trial, such as the timelines, although both parties want it to be shorter than last year’s three-week impeachment, the presentation of witnesses, and even a possible motion to dismiss the process from its inception.
In the event that both do not reach an agreement, the Democrats could assert their slim majority, with the vote of Kamala Harris, and pass a resolution in the Senate to establish the parameters and structure of the impeachment, as the Republicans already did. last year when they had control of the camera.
DIVISION IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
It is precisely the question of presenting witnesses, or not, the part that most divides Democrats. Some consider that it would slow down the process, since there is numerous evidence of what Trump is accused of in the media, while others consider it necessary.
“It is a false judgment if you say in advance that there will be no witnesses or documents,” defended the Democratic senator for Virginia, Tim Kaine, published in the newspaper ‘Politico’. “Impeachment is a very serious thing. If the prosecutors or the defense want to present witnesses, they should be able to.”
However, for other Democrats, such as Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, “the most powerful evidence is Donald Trump’s own words,” so the Senate shouldn’t take too long to move the process forward, taking into account the others. Tasks that lie ahead, such as the debate on measures to combat the coronavirus and the confirmation of the proposals of the president’s cabinet, Joe Biden.
The United States House of Representatives, with a large Democratic majority, approved on January 13 to initiate an ‘impeachment’ against Donald Trump, in a vote in which up to ten Republicans gave their support.
However, the slim majority that the Democratic Party has in the Senate – it can only be reached with the tiebreaker vote of the vice president, Kamala Harris – forces them to have at least the support of 17 Republican senators so that the initiative of ‘impeachment’ can succeed.
If that is the case, Trump will become the first US president to be subjected to two such trials after he was acquitted in February 2020 after being accused of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for pressuring leaders from Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter for their business activities.
