Senate impeachment: "Trump is a threat to democracy"
Nancy Pelosi sent the documents for the opening of the procedure to the Upper House. The trial will begin in two weeks. Biden: "I think it needs to be done"
Democratic majority leader in the House, Nancy Pelosi, kept her promise: and shortly after 7pm on Monday evening, 1am in Italy, she broadcast the only article for Donald Trump's impeachment - a document of 5 pages - to the Senate. The responsibility for deciding whether the accused former president is actually guilty of the accusation of inciting an insurrection passes to the Upper House: the assault on Congress last January 6 perpetrated by the supporters of the then president, immediately after participating at one of his meetings.
At the request of Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, the trial will begin in two weeks: around February 9, to give The Donald time to prepare his defense. Trump has certainly already entered the history books: the first president in American history to be formally impeached twice in the course of a single term. Whether he will be convicted, it remains to be seen: for now only a handful of senators - Mitt Romney in the lead - have said they are in favor of the procedure, however taking care not to reveal how they intend to vote. All eyes will be on McConnell: in fact, he privately said he considered the trial an opportunity to get rid of Trump, given that the former president, already out of the White House, risks being banned from public office, or being banned from political, and therefore unable to reappear in the presidential elections of 2024.
But many senators are uncertain. The tycoon has in fact already announced that he wants to found a new party, the Patriot Party: and threatens to field his men in the next primaries to challenge all those who vote to certify his guilt. Meanwhile, he has opened a new office in Florida, in Palm Beach - where he has resided since he left the White House - to manage his communication, since Twitter has closed his account. Indeed, yesterday an e-mail from the "Office of the former president" arrived to accredited journalists: announcing that he will, in fact, distribute press releases, administer his correspondence and his participation in public events: "President Trump will remain always a champion of the American people, "they write.
Meanwhile, the new president Joe Biden also approves the procedure: "The process must be done. Perhaps it will have repercussions on the launch of my agenda, but the effects would be worse if it were avoided".
Aside from a few technical sessions that will take place in the days before, the impeachment process will begin on February 9 - thus giving Trump the opportunity to work on his defense but also Biden to push through his two trillion dollar plan to revive the country. To find the former president guilty (a historic event) 67 votes are needed. The Democrats, however, have just 50 votes and therefore would need the support of at least 17 from members of the elephant party.
Meanwhile, the former president struggles to find lawyers willing to stand up for him: for now the only one who has already been hired is Butch Bowers, from South Carolina, an expert in electoral law.
