The impeachment case surrounding former U.S. President Trump has been full of twists and turns.
According to U.S. media, almost all Senate Republicans have voted against Trump’s impeachment and turned the focus of the topic to “whether the impeachment process is unconstitutional”.
The hope that Democrats originally wanted to win the strong support of the Republican Party to convict Trump is already slim.
On the 27th local time, the U.S. Senate unanimously decided to postpone the consideration of Trump’s impeachment bill to February 9.
On the same day, Patrick Leahy, the interim president of the Senate, who presided over the impeachment trial, was suddenly admitted to the hospital due to physical discomfort.
The trial of the case seems to be brain-intensive.
According to US media reports, Trump was accused of sedition during the riots in the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
The House of Representatives has passed the impeachment bill, and now the progress bar has been suspended in the Senate.
Lexi presided over the impeachment trial, which was similar to that of the court hearing: the congressman acted as the prosecutor and the senator as the jury.
According to ABC, a spokesman for Lehi said, “Leahy is feeling uncomfortable in his office at the Capitol tonight and has been admitted to the local hospital for a comprehensive medical examination.”
On the 26th, Republican Senator Paul argued that impeachment trials of people who are now ordinary citizens (referring to former President Trump) are unconstitutional and disorderly.
Therefore, Paul voted on whether to continue the impeachment trial, and the Senate voted 55 to 45 against Paul’s vote. In other words, 45 of the 50 Republican senators tried to overturn the impeachment bill.
The vote strongly suggests that the Senate does not have enough votes to impeach Trump — Democrats must get at least two-thirds of the 100 seats, or 67 votes, to find Trump guilty, meaning that at least 17 Republicans must vote in favor.
According to the U.S. media, although Trump’s continuous attempts to overthrow the election results that he believes are fraudulent, which eventually triggered congressional riots, all but a few Republican senators oppose the impeachment of Trump, which highlights Trump’s influence within the Republican Party.
As the investigation deepens, Republicans tend to find impeachment trials unconstitutional.
After all, impeachment cases can only take effect if Trump is convicted and the results are submitted to the Supreme Court. In the U.S. Constitution, conviction and impeachment are two different things.
“Trump impeachment reveals a deadly rift in American democracy for more than two centuries.” CNN commented that even if Trump incites riots, many Republicans are unwilling to vote to convict him, and Chief Justice Roberts is afraid of leaving a handle and has no intention to preside over the trial of the former president.
Biden, who nearly determined that impeachment would interfere with his new COVID-19 aid program, he thought impeachment was necessary but did not hope for conviction.
The British Guardian said that the second impeachment of Trump may move from tit-for-tat to acquittal.
