2 impeachment trials, 2 escape hatches for Donald Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial centered on a phone call Americans had never heard of the leader of a country far away. The he-said-she-said trial took two weeks. There was a mountain of evidence to consider, but not a drop of blood to be seen.

Trump’s second impeachment trial was a steroid sequel that focused on the anger, violence, and fear of a day in Washington. There was nothing strange or distant about it. There was blood.

Together, these trials, a year apart, spoke of a president’s unique ability to get in and out of trouble – the story of Trump’s life. The only president to be impeached twice has once again avoided consequences, although this time shunted from the playing field to the sneering section as a loser, at least for now.

In a broad side against Trump as cruel as that of the Democrats, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell declared the ex-president “practically and morally responsible for provoking the day’s events” with his “. unscrupulous behavior “and” disgraceful dereliction of duty “. “

“The leader of the free world cannot spend two weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our land and then feign surprise when people believe them and do reckless things,” McConnell said.

But this was after he gave Trump an all-ages escape hatch, voting to acquit him on the grounds that, in his opinion, the Senate cannot legitimately fire a president.

Until the end of the five-day trial, America’s noisiest man in Florida was silent. But the panic, the terrified whispers of officials hiding from their attackers and the cracking of a deadly gunshot on a large screen in the Senate Chamber penetrated the Trump-flagged insurgents less than six weeks earlier.

This time, the case did not hang on a whistleblower in the bowels of the national security bureaucracy.

This was an accusation driven by what people saw happening and heard by Trump’s massive public rhetoric that day, weeks before and after – until Twitter banned him and he let his lawyers and supporters speak as the trial ended.

“We’ve seen it, we’ve heard it, we’ve lived it,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democratic majority. “This was the first presidential impeachment in history in which all senators were not only jurors and judges but also witnessed the constitutional crime that was committed.”

Trump’s fanciful bragging five years ago that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue in New York and still be loved by his followers was, of course, never tested during his presidency. But something like it was on Pennsylvania Avenue.

On January 6, he sent his followers down that street to the Capitol, where they wreaked havoc. And that ultimately didn’t cost him the loyalty of enough supporters in Congress to convict him on the charge of provoking a rebellion.

The Senate exonerated Trump on 57-43 votes on Saturday, far behind the 67 it took to convict him.

2020

“Sorry haters, I’m not going anywhere,” Trump said after his Senate acquittal on Feb. 5, 2020, on charges of abuse of power and obstructing justice. The Senate, then under limited Republican control, voted 52-48 to free him from abuse of power and 53-47 to clear him of obstruction.

It had taken Democrats about four months to get to that point, through congressional investigations into Trump’s attempts to convince Ukraine to investigate Hunter Biden’s business dealings there. The goal was to tarnish Joe Biden, the father, as he sought the Democratic nomination and presidency.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. military aid Ukraine needed in its conflict with Russia were at stake. The power and resources of the US administration had been devoted to Trump’s personal political advantage, the Democrats said.

For many Republicans in Congress, Democrats just blamed Trump for being Trump. For others, Trump’s behavior, while troubling, did not rise to the extraordinary level they believe was necessary to attempt to remove a president between elections.

“I would like you to do us a favor,” Trump said to Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, uttering the phrase that emerged from a crude transcript of their phone call, symbolizing the heavy-handed lobbying by the president and his aides.

Trump unleashed more than 270 tweets when his fate was in the hands of the Senate, many attacking the trial and the participants. “Our case against lying, cheating, liddle ‘Adam’ Shifty ‘Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, Nervous Nancy Pelosi, their leader, stupid as a rock AOC, and the whole Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrat Party, begins today,” Said one.

The verdict came strictly along partisan lines, with one exception. Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney voted with the Democrats to condemn Trump for abuse of power.

McConnell, complete with the president in this, was ready to move on. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s in the rearview mirror,” he said in response to Trump’s acquittal.

So it was, for almost everyone, quite suddenly. In the last days of the trial, the US declared a public health emergency over the coronavirus outbreak, which was already spreading, and the first COVID-19 death in the country was recorded by the end of the month.

2021

Trump became tweetless during No. 2 impeachment, blocked from his major social media platforms due to his history of false statements and election conspiracy theories. He remained low and also stopped showing up for his one-off interviews with conservatives on TV.

As with the first charge, no witnesses were called.

The House Democratic impeachment managers came forward with new and graphic video of the attack and a clearer picture of how close the lawmakers trapped in the Capitol were to the attackers who hunted them. The danger to Trump’s vice president Mike Pence, who chaired the senate during that day’s election certification, also became more acute.

If there was such a thing as a smoking gun, it would have been fired in plain sight.

But there was little more tension about the outcome than before the Ukraine affair. Democrats never expected to win the necessary two-thirds of the vote. Seven Republicans ultimately voted with the Democrats, more than expected, but not enough. Romney was one of them.

On the last day it was announced that McConnell would vote for acquittal.

He was not known to sue Trump with such scorching words, even if he passes the hot potato over to the Biden Justice Department or the state attorney general, noting that Trump, the private citizen, is now exposed to criminal charges. and civil laws.

“He couldn’t get away with anything,” McConnell said. “Yet.”

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