Trump’s Impeachment Trial Begins in US Senate
The US President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial has begun in the Senate today.
On the first day of the process, Democratic delegates failed to force the government to submit documents related to Ukraine.
Republican lawmakers in the first hearing of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial prevented several laws passed by Democrats aimed at forcing the government to provide more evidence about Trump’s conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Senators are expected on Tuesday to vote on rules resolution proposed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Democrats have rejected the proposal and vowed to introduce amendments.
But Republicans are postponing debate over witnesses and documents related to Trump’s telephone conversation that the White House, the US State Department and the Office of Administration and Budget had refused to submit to the House of Representatives during their impeachment trial.
The Senate voted 53-47 to reject the proposal.
In American law, the statutory framework for determining how a president’s trial is to be laid down is vested in the Senate Majority Leader.
McConnell abruptly changes proposed rules, backing off condensed two-day schedule to add a third for opening arguments.
The resolution would allow House managers, who work as prosecutors, up to 24 hours over the course of two days to present their case. Trump’s defence team would have the same amount of time. The arguments would be followed by 16 hours for questions and answers from senators, and then four hours of debate.
Trump has been impeached in the Democratic-majority US House of Representatives and has now become the third president in history to face the prospect of being fired in the Senate.
