United States (US) Democratic lawmakers
prosecuting Donald Trump are set to detail their case against him Wednesday, in a long shot bid to convince sceptical Republican senators they should impeach the former president.
Trump’s second impeachment trial opened Tuesday with Democrats showing harrowing video footagee of his supporters January 6 assault on the US Capital, where they smashed down doors, broke into the Senate chamber and led riots that left five people dead.
Trump faces a single charge of inciting the insurrection after he told enraged Republican supporters near the White House to “fight like hell”. Securing a conviction is highly unlikely, as the Democrats would need 17 Republican senators to vote with them to make a two-thirds majority.
So far, only six Republicans have agreed
that the trial is even constitutional in the
first place.
Following luesdays opening statements
from Democratic “impeachment managers” and Trump’s lawyers, both sides will flesh out their cases starting Wednesday, with the Democrats going first.
Under impeachment rules, each side is
allowed up to 16 hours over two days to
present their case, starting at noon (1700
GMT).
Senators will also be given a total of four
hours for questioning.
A second acquittal is all but certain for Trump, who is holed up in his luxury Mar-
a-Lago resort in Florida.
Amped up on four years of Trump’s populist claims to be fighting for ordinary people against the elites, huge numbers of Republican voters continue to support the ex-president, pushing their party ever further to the right.
