Donald Trump’s trial could be over by Saturday as senators say they are prepared to rush to a vote – with Republicans sure he will be acquitted
- Donald Trump’s impeachment trial could be finished as early as Saturday
- Speedy end would come if there are no witnesses called by prosecution
- No final decision from impeachment managers on witnesses but they are keeping that option open as they make their legal case
- Trump’s legal team is not expected to use its full 16 hours to make its defense
- The Senate also will be in session late Friday and on Saturday after Trump attorney David Schoen dropped his request to have them recess for the Sabbath
- Trump is expect to be acquitted in final vote
- Senate is supposed to be on recess next week, which is motivating Senators
Donald Trump’s impeachment trial could be finished as early as Saturday if there are no witnesses called by the prosecution as senators prepare to barrel toward a finale vote on the former president.
Additionally, Trump’s legal team is not expected to use the full 16 hours allotted to them to make their case – which would also cut down on trial time.
And the Senate now will be in session late Friday and on Saturday after Trump attorney David Schoen dropped his request to have them recess for the Sabbath. Schoen, an observant Jew, said he would let the other defense attorneys take the lead during that time.
Donald Trump’s defense lawyer David Schoen argued Tuesday that Democrats are using the impeachment proceedings as bloodsport to drag the former president through the wringer
House lead impeachment manager Representative Jamie Raskin points up at a video that he had just shown of Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol building, cut together with parts of the former president’s speech on January 6
Trump attorney Bruce Castor started off his defense of the former president with a rambling soliloquy that veered between name-dropping the senators he knows and praising the Senate for its work
Multiple Democratic senators told CNN that, after a conference call with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday morning, they believe a final vote on a conviction could occur Sunday or Monday.
Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri also told reporters on Capitol Hill that he thought the trial would wrap this weekend.
‘I think Saturday or Sunday,’ he said.
Trump is accused of engaging ‘high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of the United States’ when it came to the January 6th MAGA riot on Capitol Hill that left five dead and trail of destruction in his path.
The Democratic House impeachment managers argue Trump’s rally that morning – where he told supporters to ‘fight like hell’ and march on the Capitol – along with his earlier false claims the election was stolen from him incited the insurrection.
Trump’s legal team countered that his speech is protected by the first amendment, argued the FBI has evidence the riot was planned well before January 6th, and claimed Trump can’t be impeached because he’s no longer president.
The Senate would vote on whether or not to call witnesses as only they can issue a subpoena. House impeachment managers have not yet requested them but are preserving that option. They did invite Trump to testify but he declined.
Helping matters move along is the fact that the Senate is supposed to be in recess next week in honor of Presidents’ Day, which is always an incentive for the senators to work quickly.
Meanwhile, Schoen’s request to have the trial continue through the Sabbath was prompted by Trump’s own desire to complete the trial without delay, CNN reported.
Schoen wrote that he was withdrawing his request because he was ‘concerned about the delay in the proceedings in a process that I recognize is important to bring to a conclusion for all involved and for the country.’
And he told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday that it was his decision to withdraw his request for the Sabbath recess.
‘I made that decision. I thought it would be inconveniencing too many people. I can’t participate,’ he said.
But Trump also didn’t want the trial delayed. He is expected to be acquitted after several Republican senators have said the trial is unconstitutional, arguing a former president cannot be impeached.
The Senate was initially going to recess Friday evening and Saturday but will now work through those days. They’ve scheduled a session for Sunday afternoon in case that day is needed.
Former President Donald Trump is also said to be eager to see the trial end; he’s expected to be acquitted by the Senate
Tuesday kicked off the first day of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial
Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri told reporters on Capitol Hill that he thought the trial would wrap this weekend
Tuesday kicked off the first day of Trump’s second impeachment trial.
It will move forward after a majority of senators voted the trial was constitutional. But 17 Republicans need to cross the aisle to get the two-thirds needed to convict the former president. Democrats only got six Republicans to vote with them on Tuesday, a promising sign for Trump.
Democrats began their impeachment case against Trump Tuesday afternoon with a video that highlighted the profanity and violence during the January 6 MAGA attack on the Capitol.
The former president’s defense team claimed the show was part of the left turning the proceedings into a ‘bloodsport’ for some of Trump’s biggest critics.
‘We now learn that the House managers in their wisdom have hired a movie company and a large law firm to create, manufacture and splice for you a package designed by experts to chill and horrify you and our fellow Americans,’ Trump’s defense lawyer David Schoen decried from the Senate floor.
He added: ‘They don’t need to show you movies to show you that the riot happened here. We will stipulate that it happened, and you know all about it. This is a process fueled irresponsibly by base hatred by these House managers.’
The more than 14-minute video presented at the top of the Democrats’ case included cuts between the violence of the pro-Trump mob and the former president’s speech just beforehand.
The Democrats went for the gut punch, using their opening argument to remind senators of what happened the day of the riot, the confusion, fear and brute force that was in play as lawmakers fled from the mass of Trump supporters.
The video showed highlights from the insurrection, including Trump urging his supporters to ‘fight like hell’ at a rally outside the White House that morning. It also showed the violence and destruction the rioters inflicted as they fought their way through police lines and breached the building.
The defense team also presented their own video more than an hour-and-a-half into their two-hours of argument.
Their video included dramatic, dark music with clips of Democrats preemptively saying they would call to impeach Trump starting just days into his presidency. This included a 2019 clip of Representative Rashida Tlaib, just after becoming a congresswoman, saying, ‘We’re going to impeach the motherf***er.’
Meanwhile, lead Impeachment manager Jamie Raskin began the Democrats’ case with an impassioned speech on the constitutionality of the impeachment trial and ending with an emotional personal story of the riot and how it affected him. At times he held back tears as he recounted what happened on January 6.
And it wasn’t just about him, he told a captive Senate audience, which sat in silence listening to him.
”This trial is personal for every senator and for every member of the House, for every manager and all our staff and the capital police and the Washington DC metropolitan police and the National Guard and maintenance and custodial crews and the print journalists and TV people who were here,’ Raskin said.
In contrast, Trump attorney Bruce Castor started off his defense of the former president with a rambling soliloquy that veered between name-dropping the senators he knows and praising the Senate for its work.
‘And you know, senators of the United States, they are not ordinary people. There are extraordinary people in the technical sense, extraordinary people,’ Castor said.
‘I have been around the United States senators before. Two of them in this room from Pennsylvania and I would like to think are friendly towards me or at least friends of mine when we are not politically adverse,’ he noted.
He talked about how he worked in the Senate forty years ago and ‘I got lost then and I still do.’
He eventually got around to mentioning Donald Trump. He launched a general defense about the freedom of speech, noting people have the right to disagree with anyone, even Trump.
‘I do not expect and I don’t believe former president expect anybody to walk back any of the language. If that is how they feel about the way things transparent over the last couple of years in his country, they should be allowed to say that. And I will go to court and defend them if anything happens to them as a result,’ Castor said.
Even Republican senators were baffled by Castor’s meandering speech.
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said Trump’s legal team was ‘unfocused, they attempted to avoid the issue. And they talked about everything but the issue at hand. And when they talked about it, they kind of glided over it, almost as if they were embarrassed of their arguments.’
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said Trump’s defense ‘had a missed opportunity’ with Castor.
And Texas Senator John Cornyn said Castor ‘just rambled on and on and on and didn’t really address the constitutional argument.’
‘I’ve seen a lot of lawyers and a lot of arguments and that was it was not one of the finest I’ve seen,’ he said.
Senator Susan Collins of Maine noted: ‘I was perplexed by the first attorney, who did not seem to make any arguments at all, which was an unusual approach to take.’
But Castor defended himself, telling reporters on Capitol Hill: ‘I thought we had a good day.’
He said there would be no changes to the defense strategy going forward.
During Wednesday’s trial session, Democrats will start the clock on their 16 hours to make their case for Trump’s impeachment.
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