The trial of President Donald Trump ends quickly

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The majority of American senators decided on Friday January 31 not to call new witnesses in the recall trial against the President of the United States.
This trial should stop by itself, in the coming days, with the acquittal of Donald Trump, even as he, Tuesday, February 4, the day after the caucus in Iowa, will deliver the last speech on the state of the union of its mandate.

Despite the support of Susan Collins and Mitt Romney, two moderate Republican senators, at the request of the Democratic camp to call new witnesses and admit new evidence against Donald Trump, accused of abuse of power and obstruction of good standing Congress march as part of its dismissal trial, the upper chamber of Congress rejected in extremis, by 51 votes to 49, this double request. From the outset, Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer lamented “a great tragedy” and a day “when the Senate turned away from the truth”.

The Democrats demanded the hearing of several relatives of the American President, accused of having conditioned United States aid to Ukraine against the launching, by his Ukrainian counterpart, of a corruption investigation targeting Hunter Biden, son of his Democratic rival Joe Biden in this country.

In recent days, recent confidences from former national security adviser John Bolton, in particular, have seemed to strengthen their cause. Four Republican senators had thus planned to vote with the Democrats, allowing them to obtain the majority required for an appearance of witnesses who would have changed the face of this trial.

What consequence for the dismissal trial of the American president?

Under these conditions, this third trial of a president in American history – the first without witness heard in the Senate – is already coming to an end. It lasted about three weeks.

On Monday February 3, senators will hear the final arguments from the prosecution and the defense in the morning. Each camp will have two hours. Then the senators, who have remained silent for the moment, may speak, ten minutes each, to express their opinion. Finally, Wednesday, February 5, they will rule on the two charges against Donald Trump.

With the Constitution imposing a two-thirds majority (67 votes) to find a president guilty, the current occupant of the Oval Office is likely to be acquitted. The vote as such, confirming this acquittal of Donald Trump, will take place Wednesday 5 at 4 p.m. (10 p.m. in Paris), said the head of the Republican majority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell.

What consequence for the American president?

Donald Trump will be able to appear, Wednesday, February 5, in triumph of this trial supposed to overwhelm him and which turns short. Better, pressed as it was to finish, he can, as of Tuesday 4, exploit this victory, and transform this acquittal into rehabilitation. Indeed, Donald Trump must, on this day, deliver before Congress the last annual speech on the state of the Union of his mandate, in a very particular electoral moment: the day before, Monday, February 3, will have been given on kick-off of the Democratic primaries, with the Iowa caucus.

reference “LaCroix“