Published 13:17 IST, February 12th 2021
'Convict Trump': Democrats 'humbly' urge US Senate to 'focus on facts'
Democrats on February 11 rested their impeachment case against former US President Donald Trump, saying he incited insurrection after losing re-election.
- World News
- 3 min read
Democrats on February 11 rested their impeachment case against Donald Trump, saying he incited insurrection after losing re-election. On the third day of the impeachment trial, House Democrats “humbly” requested the Senators to vote for conviction and said that Trump is “overwhelmingly guilty”. Representative Joe Neguse thanked the members of the Senate for the “close attention and seriousness of purpose” they demonstrated during their presentations and said he trusts and hopes that the defence will understand the constitutional gravity and solemnity of the trial by focusing like a laser beam on the facts.
Neguse said, "We humbly, humbly ask you to convict president Trump for the crime (of) which he is overwhelmingly guilty. If you don't, if we pretend this didn't happen, or worse, if we let it go unanswered, who is to say it won't happen again?”
The Democrat from Colorado added, “We’ve made or very best effort to set forth every single relevant fact that we known in the most objective and honest light. We trust, we hope, that the defence will understand the constitutional gravity and solemnity of this trial by focusing like a laser beam on the facts and not return to the constitutional argument that’s already been decided by the Senate”.
Trump’s defence team set to argue their case
As the impeachment trial finished its third day, House Democrats argued that acquittal of the former president would raise the potential for him to incite violence again in the future. The prosecutors appealed barring trump from ever holding office again. Following this, Trump defence team will now have the opportunity to argue their case against conviction for up to 16 hours over two days. Senators will then have time to ask questions of the two legal teams. It is worth noting that a vote on the article of impeachment will be decided after four hours of closing arguments and an unspecified amount of time for senators to deliberate.
If convicted, the Senate can not punish Trump immediately because he has already left the office. However, with a simple majority vote, the Senate could bar him from holding a federal office ever again in the future. If the Senate vote ties with 50-50, US Vice President Kamala Harris holds the casting vote.
The former Republican President was impeached by the House of Representatives by 232-197 vote on January 13 over ‘Incitement of insurrection’. This was in the aftermath of his supporters storming inside the US Capitol on January 6 and engulfing the nation’s capital in chaos. The dramatic clips of pro-Trump protesters chanting inside the halls of the building, breaking windows, stealing federal property, sent shock waves across the globe.
(With inputs from ANI)
Updated 13:15 IST, February 12th 2021
