Senate Democrats and a handful of Republicans voted to carry out former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial after the first day of proceedings, defeating the argument it is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office.
The vote means the trial will continue for at least a week, with Democratic impeachment managers presenting evidence Trump provoked the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Trump is charged with one article of inciting an insurrection.
Five Republican senators who previously voted that the trial is constitutional joined all 50 Senate Democrats in favor of the question of whether to proceed with the trial — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. A sixth Republican, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, also voted in favor Tuesday, saying he wasn’t swayed by arguments put forward by Trump’s lawyers.
The former president’s defense lawyers argued Tuesday Trump’s trial is unconstitutional, not only because he is now a private citizen but because he was not afforded due process.
House Democrats and 10 Republicans voted to impeach Trump on Jan. 13 after just a few hours of debate. The process was carried out in sharp contrast to Trump’s February 2020 impeachment trial that followed weeks of hearings and dozens of witnesses, along with steps taken to ensure due process for Trump.
While Chief Justice John Roberts presided over Trump’s 2020 impeachment trial, Roberts is not part of the 2021 proceedings. Instead, Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, is serving as the trial’s presiding officer.
Leahy, who will also serve as a juror and will vote on whether to convict Trump, has already indicated he believes the former president is guilty.
“Nowhere in this great country would any American, and certainly not this honorable providing presiding officer, consider this scenario to be consistent with any stretch of the American concept of due process and a fair trial and certainly not even the appearance of either,” Trump defense lawyer David Schoen argued.
The trial began with the House impeachment managers presenting a gripping video carefully edited to show Trump provoked the violent attack on the Capitol following a Jan. 6 rally protesting the House and Senate certification of President Biden.
The video intertwined dramatic footage of the attack on the Capitol with Trump’s words and tweets calling on his supporters to walk to the Capitol to “stop the steal” and convince lawmakers to block certification of Biden’s victory.
“If that’s not an impeachable offense,” lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin, of Maryland, said, “then there is no such thing.”
The opening statement and video presented by Democrats moved lawmakers in both parties.
“It was a very good opening,” Cassidy said. “Clearly, we have to hear the opposition, but they presented good arguments.”
Trump’s defense team presented its own video — this one a montage of House Democrats repeatedly calling for Trump’s impeachment beginning soon after he took office in 2017.
A meandering opening statement from Trump lawyer Bruce Castor, who first praised “the outstanding presentation” from Democratic impeachment managers, fell flat.
But Schoen delivered direct arguments as to why the trial is unconstitutional, including one that the Senate does not have jurisdiction over Trump now that he is a private citizen.
“The accused is not the president,” Castor said. “The text of the United States Constitution, therefore, does not vest the Senate with a power to try him and remove him.”
Castor argued that supporting the impeachment trial would serve as “a shot across the bow” aimed at political opponents.
“The single goal of House managers and House leadership in pursuing the impeachment conviction of Donald J. Trump,” Schoen said, “is to use these proceedings to disenfranchise at least 74 million Americans with whom they viscerally disagree and to ensure that neither they nor any other American ever again can cast a vote for Donald Trump.”
