The dismissal process was presented by Democratic congressmen and aimed to prevent Donald Trump from running for office again in future elections, considering him a threat to democracy.
Democrats, with a majority of votes in the Senate, 50, needed to see 17 Republican senators vote in favor of removal. There were only seven.
The dismissal process focused on what Donald Trump would know about the attack by the crowd he called for a demonstration, when Joe Biden’s acceptance of President was voted after a highly contested electoral process by Trump.
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The vote for the dismissal, scheduled for this Saturday, was delayed after being proposed and voted in favor of hearing new witnesses. After two hours of debate, the Senate eventually backed down and proceeded to the final arguments of the defense and the prosecution.
“Betrayed”
Jamie Raskin, leader of the team of Democratic prosecutors, maintained that it was “clear beyond any doubt that Trump supported the mob’s actions” on 6 February. “That is why he must be condemned. It is as simple as that.”
Raskin said the outgoing President sided with those who attacked the Capitol and failed to protect congressmen, including Vice President Mike Pence, threatened with death by the crowd.
His “abandonment of duty was central to inciting insurrection, and inseparable from it,” said the Democrat.
“We proved that he betrayed his country, we proved that he betrayed the Constitution, we proved that he betrayed the oath he took when he took office,” Raskin also accused.
Arguments repeated by other members of the team, supported by videos and allegations, some of which were contested as inadmissible.
“A charade”
Donald Trump’s defense accused the team of Democratic prosecutors of lying and fabricating the evidence presented during the process.
“They would be unacceptable in any court,” said lawyer Michael Van der Veen, Donald Trump’s top defense representative and the only one to speak.
“This process of destitution was a complete charade from beginning to end”, he maintained, “political revenge”.
Democrats have been “obsessed” with ousting Donald Trump since the beginning of his term, Donald Trump’s lawyer said.
Van der Veen reiterated that Trump did not incite his supporters, contrary to what the accusation claimed, and invoked freedom of speech to claim that the then President used the words “fight” and “fight” in a political and not a literal sense .
“Well, Kevin …”
At the beginning of the work, Jamie Raskin asked to be heard by Republican Congressman Jaime Herrera Beutler, about a conversation that she reported in writing having witnessed on January 6th, between the leader of the Republicans in that House, Kevin McCarthy, and Donald Trump.
Instead of hearing it and other possible witnesses, the Senate ended up admitting only its written testimony, avoiding prolonging the work.
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The congresswoman said that initially, the then President denied that his supporters were involved in the attack on the Capitol and that the mob was made up of members of the left-wing Antifa movement, an allegation rejected by McCarthy.
“Well, Kevin,” Trump said according to Beutler, “it looks like people are more upset about the election than you are.”
Even absolved in the dismissal charge, Trump does not get rid of other lawsuits, as RTP correspondent João Ricardo Vasconcelos said during the vote.
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Donald Trump is so far the only American President targeted by two impeachment processes. The first was presented and voted on in February 2020 and the Republican majority in the Senate allowed for an acquittal without surprises.
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