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Updated February 14th, 2021 at 07:20 IST

Trump impeachment trial see 'tussles' over witnesses; Senate moves towards vote

Senators pitched votes on witnesses last minute to subpoena Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash, that threw Donald Trump's impeachment trial into confusion.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
Donald Trump
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Former US President Trump’s impeachment trial Saturday witnessed last-minute fights and arguments after Senators pitched votes on witnesses to subpoena Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash. Democrats alleged, that House Republican Beutler’s testimony, related to a phone call between House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Trump on Jan. 6. would snub defense’s claims that Trump did not incite the Capitol insurrection. On the final day of former President Trump's second impeachment trial, live telecasted, the concluding vote to acquit or convict the 45th was delayed owing to the chaos that ensued regarding witness testimony, which, besides that, it would have prolonged the hearing, threw trial into confusion. 

Senate cast a bipartisan vote, 55 to 45, with five Republicans in favour of Dems, however, confusion following the vote with one Rep. asking what they had voted for, sent House into a recess. While Rep. Jamie Raskin announced that House managers asked for witnesses' testimony after the US Senate resumed, Trump's lawyer Michael van der Veen raised an objection, saying that the Democrats would need 100 depositions, ultimately prompting Senate to skip the procedure. Trump’s legal team, later, agreed to enter the congresswoman Herrera Beutler’s statement into the record, as House managers proceeded with closing arguments. 

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Dems: Insurrection arose out of 'Trump’s dereliction of duty’

Lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin argued that Trump, in an effort to disrupt Biden’s certification and overturn election results, launched the ‘Stop the steal’ campaign several days ahead of siege laying the groundwork. Former accused Trump of hurling unsubstantiated claims of ‘election fraud’, fuelling and instigating his support base. Trump’s ‘dereliction of duty’ was central to ‘incitement of insurrection, and inextricable from it,’ Raskin said in closing argument, live-streamed across all US networks. “Trump must be convicted,” he said. Following uncalled for the interruption from Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, Impeachment manager Rep. Madeleine Dean played video montage, wherein Trump, fir over days, instigated mob with provocative election speeches, on which, Senators alleged, he had spent million dollars from his legal funding. 

[House impeachment manager Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., speaks during closing arguments. Credit: AP]

[House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Credit: AP]

Calling the trial a ‘witch hunt’ and a destructive ‘constitutional cancel culture’, Trump lawyers opened their defense against the impeachment charge saying it was “unconstitutional vengeance”. Asserting that the former president bore “no responsibility” for insurrection, the defense said Trump’s speech, cited as ‘staunch evidence’ by Dems, was nothing but a ‘constitutionally protected political discourse.’They, furthermore, accused Dems of “hatred” and “hypocrisy” in an outpouring of grievances in a 3-hour argument at halls of Congress. 

Read: Biden Admin Announces Plan To Allow 25,000 Asylum-seekers Waiting In Mexico Into US

Read: Trump's Speedy Impeachment Trial Heads Toward Senate Vote,

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Published February 14th, 2021 at 07:20 IST

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