Trump impeachment trial delayed over witness vote

US News

Donald Trump’s impeachment trial has been temporarily suspended after a last-minute witness was unearthed claiming to have overheard a key phone call with the former president.

Jaime Herrera Beutler claims she has contemporaneous notes of a call that House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy had with Mr Trump – the contents of which, she says, proves the former president did not try to stop the Capitol riots.

Mr Trump is charged with “incitement of insurrection” over last month’s violence when the US Capitol was stormed by his supporters as Congress was attempting to ratify the 2020 election result.

Five people died in the chaos and its aftermath.

You Might Like

All this week, Democrats in the Senate have been trying to prove that the riot on 6 January was a result of incitement by Mr Trump, telling them to do it at a rally on the National Mall just hours beforehand.

The FBI has identified more than 400 suspects over the riots at the US Capitol
Image:
Five people died in the chaos of the Capitol riot and its aftermath

But Mr Trump’s lawyers launched a blistering attack on the Democratic-led hearing, describing it as a “unjust, unconstitutional witch-hunt”.

They say Mr Trump was not to blame and that he had told his supporters to protest peacefully.

More from Donald Trump

It is the first time in history that a US president has been impeached twice.

The first attempt to convict Mr Trump in January 2020, for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, saw him acquitted by a majority of 52 votes to 48 for one charge and 53-47 for the second. Only one Republican voted against him on one of the charges.

If convicted this time round, Mr Trump would be barred from running for federal office again.

However, Democrats face a difficult task in securing a conviction.

If every senator votes, then at least 17 Republicans would need to turn against their former president to reach the required 67-vote (two-thirds) threshold for impeachment to be successful.

Articles You May Like

DOJ Creates New Center To Help Local Officials Apply ‘Red Flag’ Laws Against Certain Gun Owners
Yes, Israel Is Now a Partisan Issue
Dan Bongino Blasts 60 Minutes as ‘Goon Hack Commie Network’ for ‘Misinformation’ Segment
Telemundo Was The ONLY Evening Network Newscast To Cover The End of Disney’s Lawsuit Against Ron DeSantis
Trump sets his eyes on Marco Rubio for potential VP pick, but what does the Florida senator have to say about it himself?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *