Former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial begins on Tuesday. The trial is expected to gavel in at 1 p.m. Eastern, beginning with four hours of opening statements and debate between House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense lawyers.
The arguments on Tuesday will center on whether or not it is constitutional for the Senate to hold an impeachment trial for a former president after he has left office. Jeff Reynolds has a great piece here at PJ Media laying out the argument against the constitutionality of such a trial. For what it’s worth, I have argued the opposite position, although I defend Trump’s impeachment defense as extremely solid.
After the debate, the Senate will hold a simple majority vote on whether or not the trial is constitutional. The Senate is likely to uphold the trial’s constitutionality, as it did in a 55-45 vote last month, with five Republicans joining Democrats in calling the trial constitutional.
Stephen Kruiser has noted that impeachment represents Democrats “giving the finger to unity forever,” and it’s hard to argue with that. Bryan Preston raised an important point about Alcee Hastings and impeachment.
Watch the trial below.
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