U.S. senators have voted to allow witnesses in former President Donald Trump’s impeachment lawsuit, extending the proceedings as lawmakers gauge whether they should convicted of inciting riots Jan. 6 at the Capitol.
The development came after news that Trump had told the Republican Congress chief during the deadly attack by his supporters last month that the mob was “more upset” about his election issue. the legislators.
The 55-45 vote in favor of witnesses means a decision is unlikely in court on Saturday. Prior to the vote, closing arguments were expected from House lawyers who were prosecutors and Trump defense lawyers Saturday after a week-long trial.
A longer trial could thwart Democratic President Joe Biden’s efforts to move beyond the controversies surrounding his ancestor and advance his own legislative agenda on COVID-19 relief and economic recovery.
Trump is the first U.S. president to be twice inducted and the first to face trial after leaving office. If convicted, the Senate could then vote to bar him from running for office again.
Conviction is seen as unlikely, however, as at least 17 Republicans in the 100-seat chamber would have to join the 50 Democrats to find the former president guilty.
Only six Republicans voted with Democrats to move forward with the lawsuit, rejecting an argument made by other Republican elders that the constitution would not allow Congress to impeach an incumbent president already left.
Questions about Trump’s role in riots
The lawsuit has raised the shocking threat facing lawyers on Jan. 6, when Trump urged his followers to march to the Capitol and “grow angry” in an attempt to stop his Congress since confirming his case to Democrat Joe Biden in the primary election. Five people died in the riot.
Security photographs displayed at the trial showed protesters approaching lawyers as they left the Senate and House of Representatives.
Among those targeted was Vice President Mike Pence, who rejected Trump’s claims to intervene in the proceedings earlier in the day.
Trump criticized Pence on Twitter for a lack of “courage” shortly after Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville told Trump that the vice president was evacuating him for his own safety.
Trump’s lawyers gave controversial responses Friday when asked if Trump knew Pence was in danger when he tweeted. Several Republican senators said they still had questions about Trump’s role.
“The question is what the president’s intentions were, right?” Only the president could answer. And the president chose not to, ”Republican Senator Bill Cassidy told reporters. He said he had not made up his mind on how to vote.
Trump refused to testify in the lawsuit.
Marching orders
House Democrats making the case for impeachment have argued that Trump set the stage for violence through repeated claims – and unfounded – that the election results were misleading. He is said to have called the mob to Washington, DC, to have issued march orders to the public and to have done nothing to stop the violence as he played out on television.
“I don’t know, at this stage, how many minds are changing,” Senator John Thune, a number two Republican in the chamber, told reporters Friday.
As many as 10 Trump Republicans could be found guilty, according to a supporter of the Senate, who would still be short of the 67 votes needed to condemn him. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who opposed Trump after the Jan. 6 attack, will vote to get Trump, a source told Reuters news agency.
‘Hatred’ not facts
Meanwhile, Trump’s impeachment lawyers have accused Democrats of launching a “hate” campaign against the former president, a day after they strongly denied Trump’s incitement. the deadly riot.
According to Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro, Trump’s defense team has three defenses to their argument.
“One thing is that this test is illegal because it is trying a former president for the first time,” said Zhou-Castro, speaking from Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
“They also claim that the First Amendment protected Trump’s political speech. They showed videos of Democrats using ‘fight-like’ language in some of their political speech.”
The third argument is that Trump’s lawyers say the lawsuit was “lack of due process,” she continued, which is another reason why they consider it to be “unlawful.”
Trump’s first impeachment lawsuit came from his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden, which culminated in an acquittal a year ago in the then-held Senate then under Republican control.
Public divided
Richard Pacelle, a professor of American politics at the University of Tennessee, told Al Jazeera that Americans are divided over impeaching Trump for the second time.
“Impeachment is a very political weapon,” he said. “About 60 percent support conviction and 40 percent do not. “
He described the partisan split in the U.S. as “very bad” but suggested there could be a slight shift toward the political center, with some Republicans in Congress voting with Democrats to condemn Trump.
“With 10 Republicans in the House and maybe six or seven passing in the Senate, and with about 140,000 people in the last few days refusing Republican membership, it is possible that we will see a slight shift back towards the center, ”he said.