Nearly one month after President Biden Inauguration, and former President Trump is being investigated, as trials are underway to convict him of incitement of insurrection. The initial impeachment article states Trump "willfully made statements that, in context, encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — lawless action at the Capitol, such as: 'if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore." On January 13th, 2021, Donald J. Trump was impeached for the second time (a historic and unprecedented event), by the House of Representatives. Not only was this second impeachment unheard of, it had bipartisan support, as 10 Republican representatives voted to impeach, and all democrats voted for impeachment. While impeachment sounds synonymous with conviction, it is now up to the Senate to convict former President Trump of crime(s). His comments about the "rigged" election seem to have incited the violent mob of his supporters to march to the Capitol, and breach the premises, eventually entering and destroying the symbol of American democracy. In the past 48 hours, House Managers have released new footage of the Capitol Attack, stating that it was Donald Trump who incited the deadly violence. Beginning Wednesday, the House Managers will have 16 hours to make their case for conviction, while Trump's lawyers will have two days to make their case for innocence. The senate will then have four hours to ask questions of both sides, and ultimately debate and vote on whether to subpoena [1] witnesses or not. Many Senators commented on the first day of the trial, saying watching videos of the terror attack on the Capitol was "horrific", and something you don't "ever get desensitized to." Republican Senator Kevin Cramer said he thought Trump's legal team was ill prepared for the first day of trial, and that the prosecutions arguments threw them off. At the end of the day, the Senate voted 56-44 that the impeachment trial is in fact, constitutional. Conversations surrounding whether the impeachment trial itself was constitutional were unfurling between Democrats and Republicans, due to the fact that the trial is to convict a former President, not a current sitting President. While impeachment trials are mainly closed to the public eye, and cameras are regulated by the Senate, only showing limited footage, sketch artist Bill Hennessy was inside the chamber, and able to make art depicting different scenes of the day. In order to convict the President, there needs to be a 2/3 vote in the Senate deciding yes. This 2/3 yes vote is also known as a supermajority, and is 67 Senators. It will be imperative that these trials are closely monitored in the coming days, as it could change a lot for the future of Donald Trump. If convicted, it will then be voted upon in the Senate whether he can hold office again (a vote which needs a majority of 51 votes). This vote will be essential to the tide of history, however, the most important outcome of these trials is going to be the way the American public's perception changes. There is a good chance for newly released information to "convict" the former President in their own terms. Depending on the overwhelming opinion of the public, history will be told in a specific way, and the memory of former President Trump will be tainted once again.
[1] Subpoena: A written order summoning a person to court
