Former President Donald Trump‘s attorneys are demanding that his second impeachment trial be dismissed. On Monday, the legal team representing Trump published a new brief arguing that the United States Senate can and should dismiss the impeachment article rather than going forward with a trial. The brief comes as Democrats and Republicans in the Senate close in on a deal to get the trial started.
Lawyers David Schoen and Bruce Castor published a 78-page document on Monday, expounding on their arguments that Trump’s second impeachment is invalid. They claim that impeaching a president after he has left office is unconstitutional — in spite of several historical precedents for the process. They also argue that Trump’s actions leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot cannot reasonably be called “incitement of insurrection,” as The House of Representatives claims.
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“The Article of Impeachment presented by the House is unconstitutional for a variety of reasons, any of which alone would be grounds for immediate dismissal,” the attorneys wrote. “Taken together, they demonstrate conclusively that indulging House Democrats hunger for this political theater is a danger to our Republic democracy and the rights that we hold dear.”
“Of the over 10,000 words spoken, Mr. Trump used the word ‘fight’ a little more than a handful of times and each time in the figurative sense that has long been accepted in public discourse when urging people to stand and use their voices to be heard on matters important to them; it was not and could not be construed to encourage acts of violence,” they continued. “The real truth is that the people who criminally breached the Capitol did so of their own Accord and for their own reasons, and they are being criminally prosecuted.”
Pundits are calling many of these points “process arguments” — meaning that Republicans take issue with the legal process of the impeachment, rather than either condemning or defending Trump’s actions. So far, process arguments have not been able to stop this impeachment, though the Senate has set aside time to deal with them. According to a report by The Hill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Monday that the impeachment trial would start soon, and would likely include a vote on the constitutionality of this process.
Schumer said that more information on the impeachment deal will be released on Monday, but the basic schedule is already clear. The Senate may begin Trump’s second impeachment on Tuesday and complete the trial as soon as Sunday.
