The House of Representatives Sends the Trump Impeachment Article to the Senate

On Monday, the House of Representatives’ Speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, sent the impeachment article against former US President Donald Trump to the Senate. This was a necessary step to open the impeachment. That formally opens the judicial process in the upper house. 

The second impeachment trial against the Republican, this time for “inciting insurrection” with the assault on the Capitol, will formally begin the week of February 8. It is expected that this Tuesday the procedural issues and the preparations to carry it out will be clarified.

The two-week window until the start of the upper House’s judicial process will offer the Senate time to confirm the members of Joe Biden‘s cabinet and process the new government’s initiatives against the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump has begun to form his defence team

Earlier, Senate Republican Minority Head Mitch McConnell had called for a delay in the start of impeachment until mid-February to allow Trump’s defence to prepare. Schumer indicated that he and McConnell would continue to negotiate the length and format of the impeachment process.

The president of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, stated that she was attentive to the fairness of the process. She stressed that Trump receives the same time to prepare his defence as the legislators who will act as “prosecutors” during the impeachment. 

This will be Trump’s second impeachment. He succeeded the first one at the beginning of 2020 due to his pressure on Ukraine. President Trump faced accountability for breaking the law. He forced Ukraine’s leader to dig up damaging information on a political rival.

In July 2019, he urged Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate one of the front runners to take him on in the 2020 presidential election. According to Democrats, this mattered because it is illegal to ask foreign entities to win a US election. Trump claimed he had done nothing wrong.

After his impeachment in December, a trial could have led to the president being removed. In the end, he received clearance.

In fact, Trump is the third United States president to face impeachment by the House of Representatives. 

The former president has already begun to form his defence team, and for this, he hired lawyer Butch Bowers. The latter defended the then governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, in 2009, accused in a political trial.