{"id":121927,"date":"2021-02-09T09:26:46","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T14:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=121927"},"modified":"2021-02-09T10:27:07","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T15:27:07","slug":"trump-impeachment-trial-to-kick-off-democrats-claim-grievous-constitutional-crime-defense-says-political-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-impeachment-trial-to-kick-off-democrats-claim-grievous-constitutional-crime-defense-says-political-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Impeachment Trial to Kick Off: Democrats Claim \u2018Grievous Constitutional Crime,\u2019 Defense Says \u2018Political Theater\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-impeachment-trial-to-kick-off-democrats-claim-grievous-constitutional-crime-defense-says-political-theater%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=121927&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s second <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-impeachment-trial\">impeachment trial<\/a> is set to kick off in the Senate on Tuesday, with Democrat prosecutors alleging Trump incited an insurrection and committed the \u201cmost grievous constitutional crime,\u201d while\u00a0lawyers for the former president have dismissed the trial as \u201cpolitical theater.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With senators gathered as the court of impeachment, the trial will begin Tuesday with a debate and vote on whether it\u2019s constitutionally permissible to prosecute the former president.<\/p>\n<p>Under an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/trump-pleased-with-bipartisan-deal-on-impeachment-trial-structure_3689937.html\">agreement between<\/a> Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the opening arguments will begin at noon Wednesday, with up to 16 hours per side for presentations.<\/p>\n<p>After that, there are hours for deliberations, witnesses, and closing arguments. No witnesses are expected to be called at the trial and Trump has declined a request to testify.\u00a0The trial was set to break Friday evening for the Jewish Sabbath, but Trump\u2019s defense team withdrew the request, and now the trial can continue into the weekend and next week.<\/p>\n<p>As the trial opens, Trump\u2019s lawyers <a href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20474874-trump-impeachment-trial-memo\">insist in filings<\/a> that Trump is not guilty on the sole charge of \u201cincitement of insurrection,\u201d calling his rhetoric in a speech on Jan. 6\u2014the day a crowd breached the Capitol\u2014a mere figure of speech.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump used the word \u2018fight\u2019 a little more than a handful of times and each time in the figurative sense that has long been accepted in public discourse when urging people to stand and use their voices to be heard on matters important to them; it was not and could not be construed to encourage acts of violence,\u201d they argued in the filing.<\/p>\n<p>While Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rev.com\/blog\/transcripts\/donald-trump-speech-save-america-rally-transcript-january-6\">said in his Jan. 6 speech<\/a> that \u201cwe fight like hell and if you don\u2019t fight like hell, you\u2019re not going to have a country anymore,\u201d the former president called on supporters to \u201cpeacefully and patriotically\u201d make their voices heard during the joint session of Congress and later denounced the day\u2019s violence.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3684140\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Trump-clapping-1200x675-1.jpg\" alt=\"Donald Trump greets the crowd\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" \/><\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump greets the crowd at the \u201cStop The Steal\u201d rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Tasos Katopodis\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s lawyers also contend that the incitement of insurrection charge against Trump is not rooted in fact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn insurrection\u2014unlike a riot\u2014is an organized movement acting for the express purpose to overthrow and take possession of a government\u2019s powers,\u201d they wrote, contending that Trump\u2019s speech \u201cwas not an act encouraging an organized movement to overthrow the United States government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Further, the lawyers argued that the trial is unconstitutional as Trump is no longer in office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Senate is being asked to do something patently ridiculous: try a private citizen in a process that is designed to remove him from an office that he no longer holds,\u201d the wrote.<\/p>\n<p>House impeachment managers, in <a href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20474952-house-managers-response-to-trump-team\">their own filings<\/a>, argued that the trial is constitutional, claiming that Trump had \u201cbetrayed the American people\u201d and there is \u201cno valid excuse or defense for his actions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis incitement of insurrection against the United States government\u2014which disrupted the peaceful transfer of power\u2014is the most grievous constitutional crime ever committed by a president,\u201d the Democrats said.<\/p>\n<p>The Democrat impeachment managers also pushed back against the argument that Trump was exercising his First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe House did not impeach President Trump because he expressed an unpopular political opinion. It impeached him because he wilfully incited violent insurrection against the government,\u201d they argued.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, the House voted 232\u2013197, including 10 Republicans, to impeach Trump on the sole charge of inciting an insurrection.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s acquittal in the Senate, however, is near certain as 17 Republicans would have to join all Democrats in voting to convict.<\/p>\n<p>According to a tally by The Epoch Times, 35 Republican senators have suggested or committed to voting to acquit Trump.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe trial is already over. They don\u2019t have the votes to convict,\u201d Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told reporters on Feb. 4. \u201cThis is just, I think, continuing to embitter the public. It\u2019s divisive, and it does nothing to promote unity. I think it\u2019s a big mistake on the Democrats\u2019 part.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If Trump were to be convicted, the Senate could hold a subsequent vote to bar him from ever holding office again. Unlike an impeachment conviction, which requires two-thirds of the Senate to be adopted, only a simple majority would be required to\u00a0ban Trump from future office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former President Donald Trump\u2019s second impeachment trial is set to kick off in the Senate on Tuesday, with Democrat prosecutors alleging Trump incited an insurrection and committed the \u201cmost grievous &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1892978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3685,3636,5959,5960,4853,3634],"class_list":["post-121927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-democrats","tag-impeachment","tag-kick","tag-off","tag-trial","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1892978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}