The second impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump—this time for inciting an insurrection—kicks off Tuesday with four hours of argument on whether it’s constitutional to hold an impeachment trial for someone who is no longer in office. If that sounds familiar, it’s because the Senate already voted once on this question, with five Republicans joining Democrats to say yes, it is.
The quality of the Trump team’s argument was previewed when one of the lawyers they cited in a pre-trial document said they misrepresented his work.
Assuming Republicans once again join Democrats in moving the trial forward, the coming days will bring up to 16 hours of arguments over two days from both the House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team, followed by up to four hours of questions from senators, possibly followed by debate over whether to allow witnesses and subpoenas.
At no point should we lose sight of the fact that this trial is about an insurrection aimed at preventing Congress from certifying the presidential election, in which five people lost their lives.
Things kick off with a procedural vote on the rules for the trial—that were agreed upon by the House Managers, Democratic and Republican senate leadership, and Trump’s legal team—so naturally the usual suspects will be voting no.
The sedition caucus voting against the rules for the trial: 11 Republicans voted Cruz (TX), Hawley (MO), Hagerty (TN), Johnson (WI), Lee (UT), Marshall (KS), Paul (KY), Rubio (FL), Scott (FL), Scott (SC) and Tuberville (AL)
The House managers are showing video evidence that stitches together what was happening in the House and Senate chambers with the approaching mob. The message to Republican senators: This is what was coming for you as you tried to do your jobs.
The video from the House managers is incredibly shocking and disturbing, even if you watched every moment of video coverage on Jan. 6.
Here’s part of the powerful video House managers are presenting. We’ll be posting it in full when available.
Raskin, after the video: "You ask what high crime…and misdemeanor is, that's what a high crime and misdemeanor is under the Constitution."
Here’s the video presentation (shown in two parts). Graphic images and language:
Former President Donald Trump faces his second impeachment trial in the Senate on Tuesday, after the House impeached him last month for inciting an insurrection at the Capitol that eventually left five people dead. Proceedings begin at 1 p.m. EST.
Watch the historic impeachment trial on our livestream above or on our homepage. Follow POLITICO’s impeachment coverage on our live updates page.
Trump is the first U.S. president to be impeached twice during their term, and the first president to face a trial while out of office. Trump’s lawyers say the trial is unconstitutional, and 45 Republican senators backed a measure declaring the impeachment trial unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office.
More Americans have concluded that Democrats were always right—Donald Trump is a menace who should be impeached and convicted. But perhaps more importantly, a solid majority wants Trump barred from ever holding office again, which garners even more support than a Senate conviction. Of course, a Senate conviction is a necessary precursor to a permanent ban on Trump, but people's views aren't always rational, and most Americans value the idea of keeping Trump as far away from power as possible.
But overall, support for Trump's impeachment and conviction are both up over this time last year, when GOP senators ultimately acquitted Trump of charges over his effort to extort Ukraine into manufacturing an investigation into his political rival, Joe Biden.
In an ABC News/Washington Post poll from January 2020, for instance, 47% wanted Trump removed from office while 49% opposed his removal. But in the latest ABC/Ipsos poll, 56% want Trump convicted and barred from holding office while just 43% oppose it. So Trump's removal went from being two points underwater to a +13 spread.
In an average of polls, FiveThirtyEight.com found 53% support for Trump being removed from office up through Jan. 20. Here's a brief rundown of the latest polls on conviction:
But on the question of making sure Trump never gets his stubby little fingers on the levers of government again, 55% in an average of 13 polls supported permanently barring Trump from office, according to FiveThirtyEight.
The Trump ban polls nearly five points above support for Senate conviction, which averages out at just over 50%. As mentioned above, the conviction must come before the Trump ban, but most Americans are very clear about their desire to permanently confine Trump to the dustbin of history, as they say.