Senate Trial of Donald Trump

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We knew Democrats and Republicans were ready to turn the page on Trump ASAP — we just didn’t realize how quickly. We’ve heard from multiple Hill sources that lawmakers have privately discussed the possibility of a three-day impeachment trial for Trump, which would be the fastest of any such procedure for a president. (Past presidential impeachments have ranged from as short as 21 days to as long as 83.) Of course, Trump is an EX-president, so …

To be clear: Talks about parameters for the trial between Schumer and McConnell are ongoing and closely held; nothing’s been decided. But even the suggestion of that time frame underscores how much senators want to dispense with the matter. They also point out that there isn’t exactly a complex set of facts to sort through; anyone watching TV lately would know the gist. “This one is cut and dry,” one person told us. “It’s not like Ukraine where you had to get into how this person is connected to that person.”

One complication is Trump. Will he want witnesses? They’ll have to give him due process if he does.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that she will send the article of impeachment against Donald Trump to the Senate on Monday, triggering the start of the former president’s trial on a charge of incitement of insurrection over the deadly Capitol Jan. 6 riot.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer announced Pelosi’s intentions for a quick trial on the Senate floor Friday, rejecting Republicans’ proposal to push it to mid-February to give Trump more time to prepare his case. Schumer said there will be “a full trial, it will be a fair trial.”

Pelosi said her nine impeachment managers, or House prosecutors, are “ready to begin to make their case” against Trump. She said Trump’s team will have had the same amount of time

While the transmission of the article starts the trial proceedings, the schedule remains uncertain as the Senate, now in Democratic control, is also working to swiftly confirm President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees and tackle the new administration’s legislative priorities.

Democrats would need the support of at least 17 Republicans to convict Trump, a high bar. While most Republican senators condemned Trump’s actions that day, far fewer appear to be ready to convict.

Federal law enforcement officials are examining a number of threats aimed at members of Congress as the second trial of former President Donald Trump nears, including ominous chatter about killing legislators or attacking them outside of the U.S. Capitol, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.

The threats, and concerns that armed protesters could return to sack the Capitol anew, have prompted the U.S. Capitol Police and other federal law enforcement to insist thousands of National Guard troops remain in Washington as the Senate moves forward with plans for Trump’s trial, the official said Sunday.

Similar to those intercepted by investigators ahead of Biden’s inauguration, the threats that law enforcement agents are tracking vary in specificity and credibility, said the official, who had been briefed on the matter. Mainly posted online and in chat groups, the messages have included plots to attack members of Congress during travel to and from the Capitol complex during the trial, according to the official.

The official was not authorized to not discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Law enforcement officials are already starting to plan for the possibility of armed protesters returning to the nation’s capital when Trump’s Senate trial on a charge of inciting a violent insurrection begins the week of Feb. 8.

Though much of the security apparatus around Washington set up after the riot and ahead of Biden’s inauguration — it included scores of military checkpoints and hundreds of additional law enforcement personnel — is no longer in place, about 7,000 members of the National Guard will remain to assist federal law enforcement, officials said.
The Guard Bureau said that the number of Guard members in D.C. is less than 20,000 as of Sunday. All but about 7,000 of those will go home in the coming days. The Guard Bureau said that the number of troops in D.C. would then continue to decline in the coming weeks to about 5,000. They are expected to stay in D.C. until mid-March.

Trump said "peacefully and patriotically march on the Capitol Building"...

President Joe Biden on Monday offered his most extensive comments since taking office on former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, telling CNN, "I think it has to happen."

Biden made the comment during a brief one-on-one interview with CNN in the halls of the West Wing. He acknowledged the effect it could have on his legislative agenda and Cabinet nominees but said there would be "a worse effect if it didn't happen.

Biden told CNN he believed the outcome would be different if Trump had six months left in his term, but said he doesn't think 17 Republican senators will vote to convict Trump.
"The Senate has changed since I was there, but it hasn't changed that much," Biden said.

But as more alarming details came into focus about the Capitol attack, early discussions among Biden advisers of taking an active role in slowing or trying to somehow manage impeachment were abandoned, aides said, as they've become well aware that trying to do so could divide Democrats.

Chief Justice John Roberts will not be presiding like he did for Trump's first impeachment trial, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Instead, Sen. Patrick Leahy, the president pro tempore of the Senate, is expected to preside, the sources said. The Constitution says the chief justice presides when the person facing trial is the current president of the United States, but senators preside in other cases, one source sai

If they make the trial last as long as possible, then the Senate won't be busy passing Biden's agenda and so Biden can't sign it into law.  Make the trial last four years.

Democrats would need the support of at least 17 Republicans to convict Trump, a high bar. While most Republican senators condemned Trump’s actions that day, far fewer appear to be ready to convict.

Trump said "peacefully and patriotically march on the Capitol Building".

So, his defense will say he did not incite violence.

Ridicule and disrespect noted.  There was no "attempted" coup, and ultimately, there was no coup in America, as I predicted.