Supreme Court legal hearings will give Republicans and Trump a relative advantage over Democrats • Debates are expected to be lengthy and will be held for most of the week
President Donald Trump // Photo: AFP
After the ceremonies and announcements are over, tomorrow (Tuesday) hearings of President Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate will officially begin. Even in the first phase of the hearings, not much was said about the prosecution or the defense, but mainly a debate - not to say a loud confrontation - between Republicans and Democrats around the rules of the law.
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Trump's impeachment process continues in the House of Representatives // Photo: Reuters
For example, one of the issues that will be at the center of the hearing tomorrow is the question of summoning the witnesses. While Democrats want to call witnesses now, Republicans are not at all sure that this is necessary, and if so, that need will only become apparent later in the debate. It's important to mention that Republicans hold a majority in the Senate, with 53 Republican senators versus 47 Democrats. So to call witnesses, Democrats will have to win the support of at least 4 Republicans.
Either way, the hearings in the trial are expected to be lengthy and tedious for all parties. They will run for 6 days a week, Monday through Saturday, starting each day at 1:00 pm (local time) and ending in the area at 6:00 pm. The general timetable has not yet been fully clarified either, and will certainly be up for discussion tomorrow.
Will argue against the impeachment procedure. Alan Dershowitz // Photo: Dudi Vaaknin
Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to copy the schedule from the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton. Whereby each party will be given a total of 24 hours for the opening arguments, and then 16 hours will be given to the senators to ask questions. If this is indeed the format, then the opening arguments will last about 10 days, and the question phase will take another 3 days.
While many technical details about the hearings have not yet been agreed, the arguments of the two sides in the trial can be fairly accurately predicted. Democratic prosecutors will present the allegedly damning details that came up in their investigation, trying to prove that President Trump violated the Constitution and violated U.S. interests, and that he is guilty of both counts of impeachment - misusing his power and disrupting the Congressional investigation.
The president's attorney, on the other hand, revealed their defensive strategy over the weekend, saying that Trump's conduct in the Ukraine Gate case does not amount to criminal offenses that warrant impeachment. The constitutional expert, renowned Harvard Lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who joined the president's defense team, explained in weekend interviews that the indictment clauses do not meet the Constitution's requirement to oust a president. Attorney Robert Ray, another of Trump's new attorneys, claimed in an interview with Fox News that "there has never been a president's ouster without a criminal allegation."