U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One after leaving the Alamo, Texas, for a tour of the border wall, Jan. 12, 2021.
The U.S. Senate is scheduled to begin an impeachment trial against former President Trump on Feb. 9. On Feb. 2, Trump sent a formal letter to the Senate responding to the House-passed articles of impeachment as unconstitutional.
The House voted 232 to 197 on January 13 to impeach President Trump for “sedition” at the Capitol.
According to the constitutional provision that impeachment requires the support of at least two-thirds, or 67 senators, to succeed, if 45 senators have voted that impeachment is unconstitutional, there is little chance that Trump will be impeached and convicted this Time.
Trump called the impeachment “unconstitutional” because he is no longer president and cannot be removed from office even if he is convicted.
“The Constitution requires impeachment against a sitting president, and since the 45th president of the United States is no longer “president,” the Senate could not have found the words “shall be removed” in the articles of impeachment. “
He also denied inciting rebellion and said he has consistently and faithfully performed the duties of the president of the United States and has at all times endeavored to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, while never committing a crime.
Trump argued that in his Jan. 6 speech outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., he challenged the election results as part of his First Amendment rights.
“Like all Americans, the 45th president is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.” The letter reads.
Finally, Trump asked the Senate to reject the first article of impeachment because it does not have the power to rule on the removal of a president who has left office and asked the Senate to declare him innocent.
On Jan. 31, Trump announced that Alabama attorney John Scone and former federal prosecutor John Castor have been appointed to defend the impeachment trial. The two are expected to focus on how the impeachment trial is unconstitutional and “politically weaponized.
Clinton impeachment central figure: Senate has no authority to try Trump
Alan Dershowitz, a leading Harvard law professor, and Ken Starr, a special prosecutor, have also argued that impeaching the outgoing president is unconstitutional.
On Feb. 1, Special Counsel Ken Starr, a central figure in the impeachment of former President Clinton, told Fox that the text of the U.S. Constitution is clear that the judgment in an impeachment case is to “disqualify and possibly disqualify” the former official from being removed from office by that definition. If the Senate continues to do so, they will …… violate the Constitution’s private power stripping bill to punish (by impeachment) those who leave office.
According to the U.S. Constitution, Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court should preside over this impeachment trial, but he has declined. Therefore, the Senate appointed Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a Democrat, to preside over the trial.
Starr had been a central figure in the impeachment of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and had worked as an independent prosecutor investigating the Clinton scandal. Although he provided strong evidence and the House passed articles of impeachment, he did not receive two-thirds support in the Senate, and Clinton was acquitted of all charges.
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