Almost a year after the impeachment of the then president, Donald Trump,
the Senate again received an impeachment charge this Monday
that will trigger a new trial against the now-former president, this time for "incitement to insurrection." following the violent assault on the Capitol by his followers on January 6.
Democratic prosecutors - the legislators of the House of Representatives who will serve as the prosecuting party in the second impeachment trial against Trump -
comply this Monday night with the protocol for the delivery of the
impeachment
charge
in the Senate
, a ceremony with more than 150 years old.
The procession will give way to the trial against Trump in the Senate
, which will begin on February 9 after both chambers so agreed.
US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) walks into his office after speaking a few words on Capitol Hill;
on January 25, 2020.Reuters
Democrats hold Trump responsible for encouraging a violent assault on Capitol Hill that resulted in five deaths and the taking of the rostrum two weeks before the then president left the White House.
On January 13, Democrats in the Lower House voted in favor of filing the charge of "incitement to insurrection" against Trump.
On that occasion, 10 Republican representatives backed the Democrats, but it
takes 17 Republican senators for Trump
, who incited his supporters to march to the seat of Congress hours before he was assaulted,
to be convicted
.
The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump will take place in early February
Jan. 23, 202100: 21
That a president is put on trial in the Senate after leaving the White House, in fact, is
unprecedented in the history of the country
.
The Congressional Investigation Service concluded days ago that it "has the authority to extend the impeachment process to officials who are no longer in office."
Trump is the only one so far to have been indicted twice during a presidential term.
The first time, a year ago, it was not condemned by the Senate,
then in the hands of the Republicans
.
[What does Trump's letter to Biden say in the White House and how leaving one for his successor became a tradition in the US]
"I think the trial is stupid, I think it is counterproductive," Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, said on Fox News on Sunday.
Rubio said that Trump "is responsible for something of what happened" in the riot on Capitol Hill, carried out by supporters of the former president. Five people died in connection with this assault.
"A heinous presidential crime"
However, the Republican senator also argued that prosecuting Trump would be detrimental to the country and further inflame partisan divisions.
"As soon as I have a chance to vote to end this trial, I will," he added.
His colleague Mike Rounds, a Republican senator from South Dakota, echoed him on our sister network NBC News, claiming that he believes impeachment is a "questionable point" after a president's term has ended.
"I think it would be very difficult for them [the Democrats] to try to do it in the Senate."
Democrats, for their part,
defend the need to carry out the trial against the former president
.
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, had defined Trump's incitement to his supporters before the riots as "an extraordinarily heinous presidential offense."
Pennsylvania Rep. Madeleine Dean added on CNN Sunday: "Think back. It was just two and a half weeks ago that the president assembled a mob at the White House Ellipse. He prompted them with his words. And then he turned on the fire. match".
The only Republican senator who voted to convict Trump in the first impeachment against him, Mitt Romney, who represents the state of Utah, said, also on CNN, that he will decide how to vote in the trial after he is presented. the case.
More information shortly ...