TRUMP IMPEACHMENT ARTICLE IS DELIVERED TO THE SENATE
Conviction looking less likely as Republicans level criticism of the process
Washington — A delegation of House Democrats poised to become prosecutors marched across the Capitol Monday night to deliver a single article of impeachment against Donald Trump, triggering the start of an unprecedented trial of the former president.
The nine House impeachment managers selected by Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered the impeachment article to the secretary of the Senate at about 7 p.m., with lead manager Jamie Raskin of Maryland reading it aloud on the floor of the chamber.
Trump is the first U.S. president to have been impeached twice and will be the first to be tried after leaving office. Delivery of the impeachment article, followed today by the swearing-in of senators as jurors, formally signals the start of the proceedings, though arguments won’t begin until the week of Feb. 8.
Washington — House Democrats delivered the impeachment case against Donald Trump to the Senate late Monday for the start of his historic trial, but Republican senators were easing off their criticism of the former president and shunning calls to convict him over the deadly siege at the U.S. Capitol.
It’s an early sign of Trump’s enduring sway over the party.
The nine House prosecutors carried the sole impeachment charge of “incitement of insurrection” across the Capitol, making a solemn and ceremonial march to the Senate along the same halls the rioters ransacked just weeks ago. But Republican denunciations of Trump have cooled since the Jan. 6 riot. Instead Republicans are presenting a tangle of legal arguments against the legitimacy of the trial and questions whether Trump’s repeated demands to overturn Joe Biden’s election really amounted to incitement.
What seemed for some Democrats like an open-shut case that played out for the world on live television, as Trump encouraged a rally mob to “fight like hell” for his presidency, is running into a Republican Party that feels very differently. Not only are there legal concerns, but senators are wary of crossing the former president and his legions of followers who are their voters. Security remains tight at the Capitol.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said if Congress starts holding impeachment trials of former officials, what’s next: “Could we go back and try President Obama?”
Besides, he suggested, Trump has already been held to account. “One way in our system you get punished is losing an election.”