Trump Lawyers Fail To Stop Impeachment Trial

Related stories

Top 10 wealthiest cities in the world in 2025

1/11 Wealthiest cities in the world ​In 2025, the global distribution...

BREAKING! Judge Halts Trump’s Ban on Harvard’s International Students Enrollment

By Abiola Olawale A federal judge has issued a temporary...

Why No Foreigner Should Enter Nigeria Without Visa — Tunji-Ojo Tells Airlines

By Kolawole Ojebisi The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo,...

2027: Atiku, Sambo Visit Aregbesola in Osun Ahead of Owa Obokun’s Historic Coronation

• Obasanjo, Adeleke, Oyetola, Others Also Present By Abiola Olawale Former...

Belgium’s future queen caught up in Harvard foreign student ban

Princess Elisabeth, the 23-year-old future queen of Belgium, has...

Agency Report — Lawyers to former US President Donald Trump failed on Tuesday to stop his second impeachment trial, the first ever in the country’s history.

After legal arguments from the lawyers and impeachment managers and graphic video, U.S. senators voted to move forward with the trial on a charge of inciting the deadly assault on the Capitol on 6 June.

The senators rejected 56-44 the Trump lawyers claim that the proceeding was unconstitutional, since Trump had left office.

Democrats hope to disqualify Trump from ever again holding public office. Six Republicans voted in support of the trial.

The video presented by the team of nine House of Representatives Democrats interspersed images of the January Capitol violence with clips of Trump’s incendiary speech to a crowd of supporters moments earlier urging them to “fight like hell” to overturn his Nov. 3 election defeat.

Senators, serving as jurors, watched as screens showed Trump’s followers throwing down barriers and hitting police officers at the Capitol. The video also included the moment when police guarding the House chamber fatally shot protester Ashli Babbitt, one of five people including a police officer who died in the rampage.

The mob attacked police, sent lawmakers scrambling for safety and interrupted the formal congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s victory after Trump had spent two months challenging the election results based on false claims of widespread voting fraud.

“If that’s not an impeachment offence, then there is no such thing,” Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, who led the prosecution, told the assembled senators after showing the video.

He wept as he recounted how relatives he brought to the Capitol that day to witness the election certification had to shelter in an office near the House floor, saying: “They thought they were going to die.”

In contrast to the Democrats’ emotional presentation, Trump’s lawyers attacked the process, arguing that the proceeding was an unconstitutional, partisan effort to close off Trump’s political future even after he had already departed the White House.

“What they really want to accomplish here in the name of the Constitution is to bar Donald Trump from ever running for political office again, but this is an affront to the Constitution no matter who they target today,” David Schoen, one of Trump’s lawyers, told senators.

He denounced the “insatiable lust for impeachment” among Democrats before airing his own video, which stitched together clips of various Democratic lawmakers calling for Trump’s impeachment going back to 2017.

CONVICTION UNLIKELY
Trump was impeached by the Democratic-led House on Jan. 13 on a charge of inciting an insurrection, although his conviction remains unlikely.

Finding him guilty would require a two-thirds majority, meaning that at least 17 Republicans would need to join the Senate’s 48 Democrats and two independents in voting against Trump, who remains his party’s most powerful figure even out of office.

Trump is the only president to go on trial in the Senate after leaving office and the only one to be impeached twice. He is just the third president in U.S. history to be impeached at all.

The trial was held with extraordinary security around the Capitol following the siege, including armed security forces and a perimeter of fencing and razor wire.

One year ago, the then-Republican-controlled Senate acquitted Trump on charges of obstructing Congress and abuse of power for pressuring Ukraine to launch an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter in 2019.

'Dotun Akintomide
'Dotun Akintomide
'Dotun Akintomide's journalism works intersect business, environment, politics and developmental issues. Among a number of local and international publications, his work has appeared in the New York Times. He's a winner of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Award. Currently, the Online Editor at The New Diplomat, Akintomide has produced reports that uniquely spoke to Nigeria's experience on Climate Change issues. When Akintomide is not writing, volunteering or working on a media project, you can find him seeing beautiful sites like the sandy beaches that bedecked the Lagos coastline.

Subscribe

- Never miss a story with notifications

- Gain full access to our premium content

- Browse free from up to 5 devices at once

[tds_leads input_placeholder="Your email address" btn_horiz_align="content-horiz-center" pp_msg="SSd2ZSUyMHJlYWQlMjBhbmQlMjBhY2NlcHQlMjB0aGUlMjAlM0NhJTIwaHJlZiUzRCUyMiUyMyUyMiUzRVByaXZhY3klMjBQb2xpY3klM0MlMkZhJTNFLg==" pp_checkbox="yes" tdc_css="eyJhbGwiOnsibWFyZ2luLXRvcCI6IjMwIiwibWFyZ2luLWJvdHRvbSI6IjQwIiwiZGlzcGxheSI6IiJ9LCJwb3J0cmFpdCI6eyJtYXJnaW4tdG9wIjoiMTUiLCJtYXJnaW4tYm90dG9tIjoiMjUiLCJkaXNwbGF5IjoiIn0sInBvcnRyYWl0X21heF93aWR0aCI6MTAxOCwicG9ydHJhaXRfbWluX3dpZHRoIjo3NjgsImxhbmRzY2FwZSI6eyJtYXJnaW4tdG9wIjoiMjAiLCJtYXJnaW4tYm90dG9tIjoiMzAiLCJkaXNwbGF5IjoiIn0sImxhbmRzY2FwZV9tYXhfd2lkdGgiOjExNDAsImxhbmRzY2FwZV9taW5fd2lkdGgiOjEwMTksInBob25lIjp7Im1hcmdpbi10b3AiOiIyMCIsImRpc3BsYXkiOiIifSwicGhvbmVfbWF4X3dpZHRoIjo3Njd9" display="column" gap="eyJhbGwiOiIyMCIsInBvcnRyYWl0IjoiMTAiLCJsYW5kc2NhcGUiOiIxNSJ9" f_msg_font_family="downtown-sans-serif-font_global" f_input_font_family="downtown-sans-serif-font_global" f_btn_font_family="downtown-sans-serif-font_global" f_pp_font_family="downtown-serif-font_global" f_pp_font_size="eyJhbGwiOiIxNSIsInBvcnRyYWl0IjoiMTEifQ==" f_btn_font_weight="700" f_btn_font_size="eyJhbGwiOiIxMyIsInBvcnRyYWl0IjoiMTEifQ==" f_btn_font_transform="uppercase" btn_text="Unlock All" btn_bg="#000000" btn_padd="eyJhbGwiOiIxOCIsImxhbmRzY2FwZSI6IjE0IiwicG9ydHJhaXQiOiIxNCJ9" input_padd="eyJhbGwiOiIxNSIsImxhbmRzY2FwZSI6IjEyIiwicG9ydHJhaXQiOiIxMCJ9" pp_check_color_a="#000000" f_pp_font_weight="600" pp_check_square="#000000" msg_composer="" pp_check_color="rgba(0,0,0,0.56)" msg_succ_radius="0" msg_err_radius="0" input_border="1" f_unsub_font_family="downtown-sans-serif-font_global" f_msg_font_size="eyJhbGwiOiIxMyIsInBvcnRyYWl0IjoiMTIifQ==" f_input_font_size="eyJhbGwiOiIxNCIsInBvcnRyYWl0IjoiMTIifQ==" f_input_font_weight="500" f_msg_font_weight="500" f_unsub_font_weight="500"]

Latest stories

NDN
Latest News
Top 10 wealthiest cities in the world in 2025BREAKING! Judge Halts Trump's Ban on Harvard’s International Students EnrollmentWhy No Foreigner Should Enter Nigeria Without Visa --- Tunji-Ojo Tells Airlines2027: Atiku, Sambo Visit Aregbesola in Osun Ahead of Owa Obokun’s Historic CoronationBelgium’s future queen caught up in Harvard foreign student banHarvard Drags Trump's Govt to Court Over International Students Enrollment Ban2027: Yahaya Bello Speaks on Presidential Ambition, Tinubu2027: A'Ibom Governor, Umo Eno Tells Aides: Defect With Me Or ResignFagbemi: How Nigeria Was Rescued From $11bn P&ID ScamExclusive! 2027: Atiku, Obi, El-Rufai, Amaechi, Fayemi, Aregbesola, Shekerau, Mark, Others Meet SundayShagari: Why APC Adopted Tinubu As Sole Presidential Candidate For 2027Defection: You Don't Blame People For Bailing Out Of Sinking Ship, Tinubu Taunts CriticsBREAKING! Trump Blocks Harvard University's International Students EnrollmentUzodinma, Sanwo-Olu, Zulum, Other APC Governors Endorse Tinubu as 2027 Presidential FlagbearerMinority Leader Kicks As Another LP Legislator Dumps Party For APC
X whatsapp