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News Desk: 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.<\/p>\n
\u00a0It\u2019s an early sign of Trump\u2019s enduring sway over the party.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The nine House prosecutors carried the sole impeachment charge of \u201cincitement of insurrection\u201d 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 questioning whether Trump\u2019s repeated demands to overturn Joe Biden\u2019s election really amounted to incitement.<\/p>\n
\u00a0What seemed for some Democrats like an open-and-shut case that played out for the world on live television, as Trump encouraged a rally mob to \u201cfight like hell\u201d 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 \u2014 who are their voters. Security remains tight at the Capitol.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, asked if Congress starts holding impeachment trials of former officials, what\u2019s next: \u201cCould we go back and try President Obama?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Besides, he suggested, Trump has already been held to account. \u201cOne way in our system you get punished is losing an election.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Arguments in the Senate trial will begin the week of Feb. 8, and the case against Trump, the first former president to face impeachment trial, will test a political party still sorting itself out for the post-Trump era. Republican senators are balancing the demands of deep-pocketed donors who are distancing themselves from Trump and voters who demand loyalty to him. One Republican, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, announced Monday he would not seek reelection in 2022, citing the polarized political atmosphere.<\/p>\n
\u00a0For Democrats the tone, tenor and length of the upcoming trial, so early in Biden\u2019s presidency, poses its own challenge, forcing them to strike a balance between their vow to hold Trump accountable and their eagerness to deliver on the new administration\u2019s priorities following their sweep of control of the House, Senate and White House.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Biden himself told CNN late Monday that the impeachment trial \u201chas to happen.\u201d While acknowledging the effect it could have on his agenda, he said there would be \u201ca worse effect if it didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Biden said he didn\u2019t think enough Republican senators would vote for impeachment to convict, though he also said the outcome might well have been different if Trump had six months left in his term.<\/p>\n
\u00a0In a Monday evening scene reminiscent of just a year ago \u2014 Trump is now the first president twice impeached \u2014 the lead prosecutor from the House, this time Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, stood before the Senate to read the House resolution charging \u201chigh crimes and misdemeanors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Earlier, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said failing to conduct the trial would amount to a \u201cget-out-jail-free card\u201d for others accused of wrongdoing on their way out the door.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Republicans appear more eager to argue over trial process than the substance of the case, he said, perhaps to avoid casting judgment on Trump\u2019s \u201crole in fomenting the despicable attack\u201d on the Capitol.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Schumer said there\u2019s only one question \u201csenators of both parties will have to answer before God and their own conscience: Is former President Trump guilty of inciting an insurrection against the United States?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0On Monday, it was learned that Chief Justice John Roberts is not expected to preside at the trial, as he did during Trump\u2019s first impeachment, potentially affecting the gravitas of the proceedings. The shift is said to be in keeping with protocol because Trump is no longer in office.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Instead, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D- Vt., who serves in the largely ceremonial role of Senate president pro tempore, is set to preside.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Leaders in both parties agreed to a short delay in the proceedings that serves their political and practical interests, even as National Guard troops remain at the Capitol amid security threats on lawmakers ahead of the trial.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The start date gives Trump\u2019s new legal team time to prepare its case, while also providing more than a month\u2019s distance from the passions of the bloody riot. For the Democratic-led Senate, the intervening weeks provide prime time to confirm some of Biden\u2019s key Cabinet nominees.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., questioned how his colleagues who were in the Capitol that day could see the insurrection as anything other than a \u201cstunning violation\u201d of the nation\u2019s history of peaceful transfers of power.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cIt is a critical moment in American history,\u201d Coons said Sunday in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u00a0An early vote to dismiss the trial probably would not succeed, given that Democrats now control the Senate. The House approved the charge against Trump on Jan. 13, with 10 Republicans joining the Democrats.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Still, the mounting Republican opposition to the proceedings indicates that many GOP senators will eventually vote to acquit Trump. Democrats would need the support of 17 Republicans \u2014 a high bar \u2014 to convict him.<\/p>\n
\u00a0One by one, Republican senators are explaining their objections to the unprecedented trial and scoffing at the idea of trying to convict Trump now that he\u2019s no longer in office.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Rand Paul of Kentucky said that without the chief justice presiding the proceedings are a \u201csham.\u201d Joni Ernst of Iowa said that while Trump \u201cexhibited poor leadership,\u201d it\u2019s those who assaulted the Capitol who \u201cbear the responsibility.\u201d New Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said Trump is one of the reasons he is in the Senate, so \u201cI\u2019m proud to do everything I can for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is among those who say the Senate does not have the constitutional authority to convict a former president.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Democrats reject that argument, pointing to an 1876 impeachment of a secretary of war who had already resigned and to opinions by many legal scholars. Democrats also say that a reckoning of the first invasion of the Capitol since the War of 1812, perpetrated by rioters egged on by a president as Electoral College votes were being tallied, is necessary.<\/p>\n
\u00a0A few GOP senators have agreed with Democrats, though not close to the number that will be needed to convict Trump.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Mitt Romney of Utah said he believes \u201cwhat is being alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense. … If not, what is?\u201d Romney was the only Republican senator to vote for conviction when the Senate acquitted Trump in his first impeachment trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
News Desk: 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. \u00a0It\u2019s an early sign of Trump\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":66042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n