Trump 'committed to stopping wars' but says US invested $2.5 trillion in new gear for Army

With less than a week left for his term to expire, US President Donald on Thursday expanded on his military accomplishments and said that the presence of American troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria were at its lowest and that he will "always be committed to stopping the endless wars." The outgoing President further said that the United States military troops in Afghanistan are at a 19-year low. Likewise, Iraq and Syria are also at the lowest point in many years, he added. 

The White House quoted Trump as saying, "It has been a great honour to rebuild our military and support our brave men and women in uniform. USD 2.5 trillion invested, including in beautiful new equipment--all made in the U.S.A."

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Donald Trump impeached for the second time

On January 13, the House impeached Trump for encouraging the supporters who violently stormed the US Capitol. According to the reports by AP, the house voted 232-197 to impeach Trump. Also, 10 Republicans joined the Democrats saying that he should be held accountable and warned of a "danger" if Congress should leave him unchecked ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration. 

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Now that the House has voted to impeach the President, impeachment in a two-part process will be taking place. The House will introduce and pass the articles of impeachment, however, the Senate is where Trump will face a trial and a potential punishment. According to Article 1, Section 3 of the US Constitution, the Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments. When the President of the US is tried, the Chief Justice will preside and no p

The Senate also has a set of rules that were first created around the impeachment of Andrew Johnson back in 1968 and then updated in 1986. Before the proceedings, the Senators will take an oath and there will be set time limits for arguments and rebuttals. All questions from Senators for the House and Trump attorneys must be submitted in writing and read by the Chief Justice. 

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Trump’s impeachment trial 

While the date of when the trail will get started is still unclear, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has, however, indicated that he will not bring Senators back until the last day of Trump’s term, i.e., January 19. On Wednesday he rejected Democrats’ call to bring the Senate back immediately to convince the outgoing President and said that the impeachment trial won’t begin until the early days of Joe Biden’s presidency. It is worth noting that as the trial will take some days or even weeks for the group of House lawmakers to make a case against Trump and his lawyers to answer, the trial can’t practically happen until after Biden’s inauguration. Therefore, the Senators will vote on impeaching a former President. 

There is a precedent for impeaching former official as well. While the main penalty for a guilty verdict in an impeachment trial is removal from office, Senators could vote to bar Trump from holding office in the future. The outgoing President has still not ruled out running for President in 2024. However, now, if found guilty, he could lose his six-figure pension and other post-presidential perks. 

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(With ANI inputs)