Sen. Mazie Hirono said Tuesday that her personal experience at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection will inform her decision-making as she takes in the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.
“Well, frankly, all of us were witnesses to the horrific events of Jan. 6, so I don’t have very many questions,” Hirono (D-Hawaii) said in a CNN interview Tuesday morning. “I think the house managers will bring all of the information and evidence and remind us of the kind of chaos and harm that happened on Jan. 6.”
Trump will face a historic second impeachment trial beginning on Tuesday on a single article of inciting the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Trump, who delivered an incendiary speech to his supporters hours before the riot, has denied any culpability and his legal team has argued that the impeachment trial is unconstitutional because he is no longer in office.
Before Trump’s first impeachment trial, Hirono said relevant witnesses and documents were needed for a fair trial. She said Tuesday that would not be needed for this week’s trial.
Here are the key details to watch ahead of former President Donald Trump’s near-certain acquittal. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo
The outcome may be a foregone conclusion, but the details matter.
House Democrats aren’t expecting the sharply divided Senate to convict former President Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6. They need 17 of the 50 GOP senators to break with the former president — which they know is unlikely. So instead, they’re going to exact as much pain as possible on Republicans, most of whom say the trial shouldn’t even be allowed to happen.
And the newly disclosed rules for the trial provide a road map of sorts for how they’ll do it. Here are the crucial flashpoints in the trial, key details to watch and how Democrats plan to squeeze Republicans ahead of Trump’s near-certain acquittal.
1. Trying a former president
The House’s nine impeachment managers, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) — a constitutional law professor — plan to jumpstart the trial by cutting the legs out of Republicans’ top argument against Trump’s conviction: that the Constitution doesn’t permit an impeachment trial against a former president.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks during a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
One of Trump’s attorneys Monday night withdrew his request to pause the trial over the Sabbath.
Senate leaders clinched an agreement on the parameters and schedule for Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Monday.
The schedule was initially intended to accommodate a request from one of Trump’s lawyers, David Schoen, an observant Jew who told Senate leaders that he would not work from sundown Friday through Saturday.
Under the initial agreement, the trial would have paused over the Sabbath and resumed on Sunday afternoon. But late Monday, Schoen informed Senate leaders that he was withdrawing that request due to concerns about unnecessarily delaying the proceedings.
“I will not participate [in the trial] during the Sabbath; but the role I would have played will be fully covered to the satisfaction of the defense team,” Schoen wrote.
View original post
