Impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump: The senators acquit the ex-president.
Seven Republicans voted for a guilty verdict.
In the impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump * there was a surprising turnaround on Saturday
(see initial report).
After some confusion and a consultation among the senators, the decision was made: the closing arguments will be held
(see update from February 13th, 7:38 pm)
and the vote will take place
(see update from February 13th, 9:33 pm).
In the vote, a majority considers the ex-president guilty - but he is acquitted because the two-thirds majority is not achieved
(update from February 13, 9:40 p.m.)
.
This news ticker on the impeachment process is updated regularly.
Update from February 13, 10:03 p.m .:
"Even if the Senate did not manage to disqualify Donald Trump for another office today, I hope, pray and know that he did it himself," says the Democratic majority leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, subsequently.
“I ask the American people to remember January 6th forever - not as Donald Trump wants, but the fear, hatred, racism, screams and the three cops who lost their lives.
That was the final, terrible legacy of the Trump administration that can never be washed away. "
Regarding the result, he says: "There was only one correct judgment: guilty."
Update from February 13th, 9:40 pm
: All senators are called by name, then have to get up and say “guilty” or “not guilty”.
It seems to be exciting until shortly before the end of the vote.
Then the result is there: 57 (guilty) to 43 (innocent) the vote goes out, but the required two-thirds majority has not been achieved: Donald Trump is not found guilty.
Seven Republicans voted for a guilty verdict.
Update from February 13th, 9:33 pm
: "It is time to end this theater, to overcome hostility and to move on with the problems that are really pressing: the pandemic, the economy, the inequality between the population groups", ends the plea of Defender van der Veen.
Thereupon again Chief Prosecutor Raskin follows: “You are right, we have no legal standards to judge whether a president has caused a riot because nothing like this has happened in history.
But I take it as an honor that we are judging that now.
That is our job here. ”
Then the voting begins.
For Trump to be convicted, 17 Republicans would have to join the 50 Democrats.
Impeachment against Trump: Donald Trump's defenders speak of lies and blood feuds
Update from February 13, 9:07 p.m
.: The defender of Trump, Michael van der Veen, accused the Democrats of hypocrisy several times in his closing
argument
.
While they accused Trump of inciting violence, they themselves interpreted the laws according to their own ideas.
The process itself was politically motivated, the allegations "a big lie" based on claims of the "mainstream media".
Nowhere in the constitution is it anchored that a private person can face impeachment proceedings.
“As if that's the way you do something - here in the United States Senate.
That's cheating.
The Democrats have tried to blame our client for a planned but not Trump-instigated outbreak of violence. ”He continued:“ This process is part of a blood feud, part of an obsession, to demonize an independent spirit and its followers. ”
Trump impeachment: personal words of the chief prosecutor - defense: "desperate rescue attempt"
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Ex-US President: Instead of giving evidence in the impeachment proceedings, he sends his lawyers.
© Alex Brandon / dpa
Update from February 13, 8:43 pm:
In very personal words, Chief Prosecutor Raskin now speaks to the senators' conscience: “Is the America of violence the America we want for our children?
Is that America? ”In this context, he would have been touched by the story of a father who said goodbye to his children at home before the storm on the Capitol.
With the words: “I don't know if I'll come back.” Twice in the speech he also refers to his own family - and to his son, who died at the end of 2020 at the age of 25.
Immediately afterwards, a defense attorney for Trump follows, who sees precisely this as a "desperate attempt to rescue an indictment that has collapsed".
The prosecutors did not raise any legal issues.
“My client is innocent in terms of what he has been accused of.
We have heard nothing that Mister Trump had incited the riot. ”There is no record of Trump trying to incite violence.
"No neutral person can understand his words like that."
Update from February 13, 8:20 p.m
.: The prosecutors and the defense each have two hours to present their arguments in the closing arguments.
The final vote should then follow.
MP Joe Neguse draws the senators' attention to the fact that many people in the world have previously viewed the US as a role model for democracy.
“Like many of you, I fear that further violence may ensue.
That can't happen.
January 6th is not supposed to be the beginning of anything.
It has to be the end. "
Impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump: If you don't try to put out a fire ... "
Update from February 13th, 7:38 pm
: "If you don't try to put out a fire, then you probably put it on purpose," said Chief Prosecutor Jamie Raskin, summarizing the explosiveness of the call, which was surprisingly admitted as evidence on Saturday.
In his plea, he urged the senators to consider in their decision that Trump's behavior had put many people in mortal danger.
"President Trump must be condemned for the security of our democracy and the people," said Raskin.
He called for Trump to be found guilty of "inciting a riot".
This must go hand in hand with the fact that he will be excluded from future public offices at the federal level.
Trump's defense attorneys have so far also followed the strategy that Trump was unaware of the scope of the attack on the Capitol - and the danger in which Vice President Mike Pence was in danger.
"It's impossible that Trump didn't know about it," says one of the so-called impeachment managers David Cicilline.
The president had not rushed to the senators' help, but even turned down requests for help.
Impeachment Against Trump: Confusion Around Witness Hearing
First report from February 13, 7:31 p.m
.: Washington DC (USA) - The impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump are completely open again: By morning (local time) it was apparently clear in the USA that Trump would still be acquitted on Saturday.
But then House accusers * prevailed in a vote.
The senators voted 55 to 45 to allow witnesses - including a Republican senator who would have incriminated Trump.
The focus was on a phone call Trump made with Republican minority leader Kevin McCarthy.
McCarthy is said to have asked Trump to call his supporters back from the Capitol.
"Kevin, I think these people are more angry about the (presidential) election than you," Trump is alleged to have just said.
Republican MP Jaime Herrera Beutler reported on this to CNN, among other things, because McCarthy informed her about it.
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Donald Trump: His second impeachment case is about to be decided.
© dpa / Justin Lane
Impeachment proceedings against Trump: everything open again - bizarre call comes into focus
After the vote, the senators withdrew to deliberations: Would the US be politically paralyzed by an ongoing impeachment process?
Is it in the interests of the Democratic Party to drag out the process?
The next turning point followed: Instead of summoning witnesses to the Senate *, both sides agreed that the phone call should be formally accepted as evidence.
The closing arguments should then begin.
Impeachment proceedings against Trump: Chaotic scenes in the Senate after the fall of the Wall
Slightly chaotic scenes had developed around this vote.
Some senators, like the reported television commentators, had apparently not been entirely clear about what they were voting on.
In impeachment proceedings, the rules are set during the process.
Should witnesses be called, the Senate would have to vote on the approval of each individual.
At first it looked as if the process could drag on for hours, days or weeks and thus also slow down Biden's agenda.
Because if one side had called witnesses, the other side would probably have done so too.
In the meantime, the media had even spoken of up to 300 witnesses on the Trump defense side.
That at least now seems averted.
(kat)
* Merkur.de is part of the Germany-wide Ippen-Digital editors network.
List of rubric lists: © Alex Brandon / dpa
