The day before former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial begins on a charge of inciting the deadly attack on the Capitol last month, his lawyers on Monday denied he had encouraged violence and challenged the constitutionality of the trial now that he has left office, Reuters writes.
Trump’s lawyers accused the nine Democratic lawmakers known as “impeachment managers” who will prosecute him of “intellectual dishonesty and factual vacuity” in their portrayal of Trump’s fiery Jan. 6 speech to a crowd of his supporters before hundreds stormed the Capitol as Congress was meeting to formally certify President Joe Biden’s election win.
A source familiar with the discussions said the trial will open with a four-hour debate and then a vote on whether the proceedings are unconstitutional because Trump is no longer president. The trial will then feature up to 32 hours of debate beginning on Wednesday at noon, the source added.
The nine Democrats who will serve as prosecutors hope to persuade members of the evenly divided 100-seat Senate to convict Trump and bar him from ever again holding public office. Trump, a Republican, ended his four-year term on Jan. 20, having lost the Nov. 3 election to Biden.
“The intellectual dishonesty and factual vacuity put forth by the House Managers in their trial memorandum only serve to further punctuate the point that this impeachment proceeding was never about seeking justice,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a filing in response to a brief by the House prosecutors.
“Instead, this was only ever a selfish attempt by Democratic leadership in the House to prey upon the feelings of horror and confusion that fell upon all Americans across the entire political spectrum upon seeing the destruction at the Capitol on January 6 by a few hundred people,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
They underscored their view that a post-presidency trial is not permitted under the Constitution.
A failed Jan. 26 bid to dismiss the case against Trump on the basis that it would be unconstitutional to hold a post-presidency trial drew the support of 45 of the 50 Republicans in the Senate.
The House prosecutors rejected that argument in their brief filed with the Senate last week. They argued for Trump’s conviction to protect American democracy and national security and to deter any future president who might consider provoking violence in the pursuit of power. They argued that Trump had a “singular responsibility” for the Capitol attack.
To secure a conviction, 17 Republicans would need to join the Senate’s 50 Democrats in the vote, a daunting hurdle.
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