Following four hours of debate on the constitutionality of impeaching former President Donald Trump, the Senate voted today 56-44 to move forward with a trial. Six Republicans joined with all Democrats to say the trial should go forward. As Trump’s lead attorney David Schoen charged—and some Democrats bragged—the impeachment is intended to be a media spectacle, or more appropriately put by Schoen, “blood sport” to horrify Americans with scenes of what happened on January 6, and claim that Donald Trump planned “insurrection” well in advance.
As one aide to the House Managers bragged, the impeachment will resemble a “violent crime criminal prosecution,” NBC News reported. With bells and whistles, dramatic film footage of riots, social media postings, etc., the idea, as this aide elaborated, is to “prove that “Trump spent weeks laying the groundwork for the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol and after he saw what was happening, he `incited it further.’” The House Managers presented a dramatic video timeline of the attack on the Capitol building, juxtaposed with excerpts of Trump’s speech telling supporters to “fight like hell.”
In his statement, Schoen forcefully hammered away at the constitutional issues involved—that Trump is a private citizen who can no longer be impeached; that he was never given “any aspect of due process,” that the House crafted its one Article of Impeachment when he had already left, and that this “radical constitutional theory” threatens the institution of the Presidency and will rip the country apart.
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