Trump’s property managers and defense team each have 16 hours over two days to present their arguments.
Republican and Democratic leaders in the United States Senate have agreed on a schedule for the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, which begins Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced.
The schedule calls for four days of disputes, evenly divided between the executives of the U.S. House of Representatives who will pursue the impeachment charges of the former president and Trump’s defenders, Schumer said Monday.
“All parties have agreed on a structure that ensures a fair and honest impeachment process against the former President in the Senate,” said Schumer.
“Each side will have enough time to present their arguments.”
The US House of Representatives charged Trump last month with “inciting insurrection” for his role in flogging a crowd of his supporters who attacked the US Capitol on January 6th. Trump denies the charges through his lawyers.
According to the schedule announced by Schumer, Trump’s property managers and defenders have 16 hours each over two days to present their respective arguments.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer announced the schedule for Trump’s impeachment in the Senate on Monday [Jonathan Ernst/Reuters]The Senate will take a break for the Sabbath beginning at sunset on Friday and will return no earlier than Sunday afternoon to complete the work, Schumer said.
Early next week, after the initial arguments are completed, the Senate plans to debate and decide whether to call witnesses, including possibly Trump himself, before the trial can be completed, Schumer said.
Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the agreed schedule “safeguards due process and the rights of both sides” and would give Senators “ample time to review the case and arguments.”
Trump’s defense
Trump’s attorneys insist the former president didn’t cause a riot in the U.S. Capitol last month, and have argued that his ousting by the House of Representatives should be dismissed by the Senate this week.
In a preliminary trial filed on Monday, Trump’s legal team, Bruce Castor and David Schoen, provided a robust response to House Democrats’ allegations that the former president was guilty of “inciting insurrection.”
Democrats have drawn attention to Trump’s speech to supporters just before the Capitol uprising, in which he called on them to “fight” to prevent the confirmation of Joe Biden’s election victory as evidence of “incitement.”
Trump’s lawyers argue that, in addition to his utterances, which are protected by the first amendment to the US Constitution to guarantee freedom of speech, “not a single word, explicitly or implicitly, encouraged violence or lawlessness.”
Trump’s legal team said that in addition to his non-incitement speech, the impeachment process itself was unconstitutional.
Trump was first charged with abuse of power in 2019 for putting pressure on the government of Ukraine. He was acquitted after a two-week Senate trial.
He is the only US president to have been charged twice.
Comments are closed.