Impeachment goes to Senate

House Democrats delivered the impeachment case against Donald Trump to start his historic trial. Republicans ease off their criticism of the former president.

By

National News

January 26, 2021 - 10:08 AM

U.S. House Clerk Cheryl Johnson and Acting Sergeant at Arms Timothy Blodgett hold a procession ceremony to deliver the article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 25, 2021. Photo by (Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats delivered the impeachment case against Donald Trump to the Senate for the start of his historic trial, but Republican senators were easing off their criticism of the former president and shunning calls to convict him over the deadly siege at the U.S. Capitol.

It’s an early sign of Trump’s enduring sway over the party.

The nine House prosecutors carried the sole impeachment charge of “incitement of insurrection” across the Capitol on Monday night in a solemn and ceremonial march to the Senate along the same halls the rioters ransacked just weeks ago. In a scene reminiscent of just a year ago — Trump is the first president twice impeached — the lead House prosecutor, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, stood before the Senate to read the House resolution charging “high crimes and misdemeanors.” 

But Republican denunciations of Trump have cooled since the Jan. 6 riot. Instead Republicans are presenting a tangle of legal arguments against the legitimacy of the trial and questioning whether Trump’s repeated demands to overturn Joe Biden’s election really amounted to incitement.

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