Tuesday 1/21/2020:
On Tuesday 21, 2020 The Impeachment trial of U.S President Donald J. Trump officially began in the senate. While the Chief Justice John Roberts read out the rules the trial would be following, it appears the impeachment trial would be modeled closer to the Clinton impeachment trial. Both house managers (prosecution) and Donald's Trump's lawyers (defense) will have a total of 24 hours within the stretch of 3 days to deliver their opening statements. As of Tuesday, they were still debating whether new witnesses will be allowed. With the Clinton Trial witnesses did not testify on the Senate floor but the situation was different as all of the witnesses’ testimonies had been heard, unlike Trump's trial where many of the witnesses that Democrats would like to call have never been heard from.
Wednesday 1/22/2020:
On day two of the impeachment trial in the Senate of President Donald J. Trump Democratic impeachment managers spent 9 hours (including breaks) introducing their opening arguments for why Trump should be impeached. This argument included screenshots of transcripts, text messages and a multitude of video clips. Many of the videos used were of the words of Donald Trump, which many view as a way to make Senators feel like they had to impeach Trump or at least call witnesses (which is still a raging debate between the Democrats and Republicans). Democrats argue that the reason for Republicans not wanting to call witnesses is because the whole trial is a coverup and that they're not being impartial. A lot of people think this tactic is to shift over those few swing senators whom Democrats would need to impeach Donald Trump.
Thursday 1/23/2020:
With the third day of the impeachment trial convening Democrats focused more on the actual charges they were bringing up against Donald Trump with an emphasis on the abuse of power charges that President Donald Trump is facing. Much of this included his infamous phone call with Ukraine where he was seen to be allegedly "pressuring" the Ukrainian president. Democratic Managers argued that this was an act worthy of impeachment Mr. Nadler, one of the House managers, went as far as to say "If what we are talking about is not impeachable, then nothing is impeachable". Once again they included clips of Donald Trump's own words as a way to show that he was unstable, and in turn, unfit to be the president of the United States. Mr. Schiff, another House manager, while delivering the final argument for today's session made a final appeal to the senators being quoted as saying: "you know you can’t trust this president to do what is right for this country. You can trust he will do what is right for Donald Trump."
Friday 1/24/2020:
With the final day for House managers to make their opening arguments for impeachment against Donald J. Trump they focused on the second of the charges raised against him, "obstruction of Congress". The main basis for this argument is that President Donald J. Trump blocked the House of Representatives’ investigation into him to ready for impeachment. He ignored subpoenas (a legally binding tool that requires you to talk) and they point out that this is an illegal offense. Is this offense bad enough to be something the president should get impeached over is the question. House managers argue that this is no longer just about Democrats being against the president but that this a bigger issue of the executive branch holding too much power and refusing to acknowledge the power of the legislative power of Congress.
Saturday 1/25/2020:
As Trump’s lawyers started their case (or lack thereof) they mainly focused on addressing some of the discrepancies they found with the house managers opening statement. They talked about the fact that Trump hadn't pressured Ukraine to look into Joe Biden at all (a big deal within the house managers’ arguments) and that the witnesses that the House wanted to call didn't have any actual facts behind their statement but instead most of it was guesswork. This dig to not call in witnesses is to of course try to keep those essential swing Senators on the side of not impeaching Donald J. Trump. Trump's Lawyers accused the House managers of only using evidence that supported their case and ignoring the bigger picture.
PART 2
Monday 1/27:
Trump's lawyers started the second day of their opening statement and their main argument was that Trump didn't do anything illegal. With it out there that Trump did in fact hold Ukraine’s aid, his lawyers made the case that what he did wasn't illegal. They say that holding this aid isn't because he wanted to pressure Ukraine into hacking the Bidens. If Trump didn't do anything illegal then House managers don't have any argument to hold against him is what his defense team is trying to get across. Many experts of the constitution refute this claim though and say that even If the president isn't committing a crime he can still be impeached.
Tuesday 1/28:
Trump's defense team wrapped up their argument around 3PM but one question is still being heavily debated. Should they call witnesses into this trial? Many Democrats argue that calling witnesses is necessary for a fair trial and they disapprove of the Republican senators who don't want to call witnesses. Democrats see this as them having a predetermined vote and not treating this trial seriously. Revelations from John Bolton's new book are igniting the spark for Democrats wishing to call witnesses.
Wednesday 1/29:
Senators were able to question house managers and President Trump's defense team. A total of 93 questions were asked over the span of 8 hours. Republicans seemed to be more confident that they could get through this trial without calling witnesses.
Thursday 1/30:
Chief Justice Roberts continued to read out questions but refused to read out a question from Sen. Rand Paul submitted because he saw it as a question whose purpose was to expose the “whistle blower” or the person whose inquiry led to the investigation of Donald J. Trump and Impeachment.
Friday 1/31:
The senate voted against bringing in witnesses (51-49) which many saw as speeding up the Impeachment Trial significantly. Many see this as a hint that President Donald J. Trump will be acquitted if Democrats can't even get the votes to call witnesses.
Monday 2/3:
The House managers gave their closing arguments on why senators should convict President Donald J. Trump. For the first time since this trial was adjourned senators finally got the chance to come out to the Senate floor and debate. Senators holding different sides of whether he should be convicted or not from different sides of the political aisle came together to argue their positions before the final vote on Wednesday.
Wednesday 2/5:
On Wednesday February 5th, Trump was acquitted on the two accounts of impeachment that were put up against him. On the first charge he was acquitted with 52 senators saying he wasn't guilty. This vote was almost completely partisan except for one Republican Senator, Mitt Romney, who seemed nervous when he announced he was doing this, probably assuming he would face a lot of backlash as he crossed his party by voting against President Donald J. Trump. On the second charge it was completely partisan and Trump was acquitted with 53 senators.
Trump's lawyers started the second day of their opening statement and their main argument was that Trump didn't do anything illegal. With it out there that Trump did in fact hold Ukraine’s aid, his lawyers made the case that what he did wasn't illegal. They say that holding this aid isn't because he wanted to pressure Ukraine into hacking the Bidens. If Trump didn't do anything illegal then House managers don't have any argument to hold against him is what his defense team is trying to get across. Many experts of the constitution refute this claim though and say that even If the president isn't committing a crime he can still be impeached.
Tuesday 1/28:
Trump's defense team wrapped up their argument around 3PM but one question is still being heavily debated. Should they call witnesses into this trial? Many Democrats argue that calling witnesses is necessary for a fair trial and they disapprove of the Republican senators who don't want to call witnesses. Democrats see this as them having a predetermined vote and not treating this trial seriously. Revelations from John Bolton's new book are igniting the spark for Democrats wishing to call witnesses.
Wednesday 1/29:
Senators were able to question house managers and President Trump's defense team. A total of 93 questions were asked over the span of 8 hours. Republicans seemed to be more confident that they could get through this trial without calling witnesses.
Thursday 1/30:
Chief Justice Roberts continued to read out questions but refused to read out a question from Sen. Rand Paul submitted because he saw it as a question whose purpose was to expose the “whistle blower” or the person whose inquiry led to the investigation of Donald J. Trump and Impeachment.
Friday 1/31:
The senate voted against bringing in witnesses (51-49) which many saw as speeding up the Impeachment Trial significantly. Many see this as a hint that President Donald J. Trump will be acquitted if Democrats can't even get the votes to call witnesses.
Monday 2/3:
The House managers gave their closing arguments on why senators should convict President Donald J. Trump. For the first time since this trial was adjourned senators finally got the chance to come out to the Senate floor and debate. Senators holding different sides of whether he should be convicted or not from different sides of the political aisle came together to argue their positions before the final vote on Wednesday.
Wednesday 2/5:
On Wednesday February 5th, Trump was acquitted on the two accounts of impeachment that were put up against him. On the first charge he was acquitted with 52 senators saying he wasn't guilty. This vote was almost completely partisan except for one Republican Senator, Mitt Romney, who seemed nervous when he announced he was doing this, probably assuming he would face a lot of backlash as he crossed his party by voting against President Donald J. Trump. On the second charge it was completely partisan and Trump was acquitted with 53 senators.