PROSECUTOR: CRIME ‘most dangerous’ by president.
WASHINGTON — The lead prosecutor for President Donald Trump’s second impeachment asserted on Sunday that Trump’s incitement of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol was “the most dangerous crime” ever committed by a president against the United States.
A Senate trial could begin as soon as this week, just as Democrat Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., did not say when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will send the single article of impeachment against Trump — for “incitement of insurrection” — to the Senate, which will trigger the beginning of the trial. But Raskin said “it should be coming up soon” as Pelosi organizes the formal transfer.
The House voted to impeach Trump on Wednesday, one week after the violent insurrection that interrupted the official count of electoral votes, ransacked the Capitol and left Congress deeply shaken. Before the mob overpowered police and entered the building, Trump told supporters at a rally to “fight like hell” against the certification of Biden’s election win.
“We’re going to be able to tell the story of this attack on America and all of the events that led up to it,” Raskin said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “This president set out to dismantle and overturn the election results from the 2020 presidential election. He was perfectly clear about that.”
Democrats and the incoming administration are facing the challenge of reckoning with the Capitol attack at the same time that Biden takes office and tries to move the country forward. They say the Congress can do both, balancing a trial with confirmations of the new president’s Cabinet and consideration of his legislative priorities.
Pelosi on Friday said that Democrats intend to move quickly on Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid and economic recovery package to speed up vaccinations and send Americans relief, calling it a “matter of complete urgency.”
Ron Klain, Biden’s incoming White House chief of staff, speaking on “State of the Union” on Sunday, said he hopes Senate leaders, on a bipartisan basis, “find a way to move forward on all of their responsibilities. This impeachment trial is one of them, but getting people into the government and getting action on coronavirus is another one of those responsibilities.”
It is unclear how many Senate Republicans — if any — would vote to convict Trump. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is telling his caucus that their decision on whether to convict the outgoing president will be a “vote of conscience.” His stance, first reported by Business Insider, means the GOP leadership team will not work to hold senators in line one way or the other.
McConnell is open to considering impeachment, but said he is undecided on how he would vote.
Some GOP senators are already standing by Trump, despite their criticism of his behavior. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of the president’s most loyal allies, said impeachment was a “bad, rushed, emotional move” that puts the presidency at risk and will cause further division.
He said he hopes every Senate Republican rejects impeachment. “Please do not justify and legitimize what the House did,” Graham said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
A handful of Republican senators have suggested they will consider conviction. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., have said he should resign. Murkowski said the House responded “appropriately” with impeachment and she will consider the trial arguments.
No president has ever been convicted in the Senate, and it would take a two-thirds vote against Trump, a high hurdle.
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, was spotted at the White House Saturday and told ABC he was likely going to join Trump’s impeachment defense team. He suggested he would continue to spread claims of election fraud on the Senate floor.
Trump campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley moved to distance Trump from Giuliani’s comments, tweeting: “President Trump has not yet made a determination as to which lawyer or law firm will represent him for the disgraceful attack on our Constitution and democracy, known as the ‘impeachment hoax.’ We will keep you informed.”
Trump is the only president to be twice impeached, and the first to be prosecuted as he leaves the White House. A precedent set by the Senate in the 1800s established that a trial can proceed even after a federal official leaves office. Trump was first impeached by the House in 2019 over his dealings with Ukraine, but the Senate voted last year to acquit.