Paula Lugones
02/13/2021 15:30
Clarín.com
World
Updated 02/13/2021 15:30
In a stormy session, the US Senate backed down and decided not to subpoena witnesses to testify in the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, a measure that would have prolonged the process to convict or acquit the tycoon for "incitement to violence. ”In the assault on Congress on January 6.
The verdict, then, could come out this Saturday.
At the beginning of the new impeachment day, 55 senators voted in favor of the subpoenas and 45 protested against hearing more testimonies about what happened that day when a mob of Trumpist sympathizers violently entered the Capitol, an unprecedented episode that ended with 5 deaths and terrorized those in the building and the entire population who watched the scenes live.
Five Republican lawmakers joined Democrats in calling witnesses.
The move was surprising because there was no desire in any party to stretch the process because it
is more than likely that the former president will end up acquitted
(two-thirds of the votes of the Senate are needed for him to be convicted) and legislators have urgent issues to discuss , such as the multi-million dollar aid package for the population due to the coronavirus crisis.
But finally the subpoena of witnesses came to nothing.
During the recess, the Democrats gave in to call them because the Republicans threatened to summon hundreds of people to testify and drag the process to infinity.
Outside the compound, they negotiated that they would include some written statements and that they would move on to the closing arguments.
The impeachment was launched to elucidate what was the responsibility of the former president, if with his speeches, his tweets or his inaction at that time he encouraged or incited the violent.
As the chances of him being convicted are practically nil (with some exceptions, almost all Republicans continue to support the former president), the Democrats wanted to expose what had happened that dramatic day and they did so for several days with videos and presentations that revealed details chilling.
Trump's defense always said that the process is unconstitutional, that it was motivated by political revenge and that the former head of the White House had not encouraged the violent and that his speeches were governed by freedom of expression.
When the arguments of the parties ended, everything indicated that the call to witnesses would be skipped (after all, all the legislators present there had been protagonists of that day) to speed up the process and end this Saturday with a verdict.
But the representative leading the Democrats in impeachment, Jamie Raskin, surprisingly said he wanted to subpoena Republican lawmaker Jaime Herrera Beutler.
It was shortly after the legislator made public that the leader of the Republicans in the lower house, Kevin McCarthy, had related to her that in the middle of the incidents he had spoken by phone with the president and that the tycoon
had expressed support for the mob
that at the time he was attacking Congress.
Senator Jamie Raskin, leader of the Democrats in impeachment, arrives in Congress this Saturday in Washington.
Photo: AFP
As she said in a statement, when McCarthy contacted the then president to ask his followers to suspend the assault, he refused.
"Well, Kevin, I guess these people are angrier about the election than you," Trump would have responded to McCarthy.
According to CNN, he would have replied to the president: "Who the ... do you think you're talking to?"
Raskin said he wanted a short statement virtually with the congresswoman, who is one of 10 Republican voices who voted to impeach Trump in the lower house.
He said that he believed he already had sufficient evidence but that Herrera's statement amounted to "additional critical corroborating evidence, further confirming the charges before you."
Uncertain panorama
The president's defense team rejected Raskin's proposal and threatened to subpoena hundreds of witnesses, which would drag the trial into an uncertain picture.
Finally, in the recess it was decided to include Herrera's statement in writing and to proceed without witnesses.
Nobody wants this process to be prolonged because everyone knows what the result is: the former president will end up acquitted.
Republicans seek to turn the page on that uncomfortable issue and a controversial presidency.
Democrats also want to get into the pressing issues, but they seek to expose the character and presumed responsibility of Trump, who longs to run as a candidate in 2024.
Washington, correspondent
CB
Look also
A new video shows how the attack on the United States Congress was: the then vice Mike Pence had to run
Everything ready for the second impeachment of Donald Trump: "Political theater" or the most serious accusation against a president?
