WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The historic impeachment trial of
Donald Trump opened Thursday in the US Senate, as lawmakers took a solemn oath to be “impartial” in deciding whether to force the 45th US president from office.
For just the third time in American history, the hushed Senate chamber was
transformed into a court of impeachment, presided over by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who administered the oath to senators.
When Roberts, clad in a black robe, asked if they swore to deliver
“impartial justice” according to the US Constitution, the 99 lawmakers
present — one was absent — responded in unison, with right hands raised: “I do.”
Earlier in the day, in a deeply symbolic moment, the two articles of
impeachment — charging Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — were read out on the Senate floor.
“Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye,” Senate Sergeant of Arms Michael Stenger said,
commanding senators to “keep silent, on pain of imprisonment.”
Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who will
serve as lead prosecutor for the trial, read the charges accusing Trump of
“high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Trump has ridiculed the impeachment process for months, and he responded to the opening of the trial by once more branding it a “hoax.”
“I think it should go very quickly,” Trump told reporters in the Oval
Office.
“It’s totally partisan,” he said. “I’ve got to go through a hoax, a phony
hoax put out by the Democrats so they can try and win an election.”
The Democratic-controlled House, voting along party lines, impeached Trump on Dec 18.
But Trump’s acquittal is widely expected in the Republican-dominated
Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required to convict and remove a
president.
After the swearing in, the Senate adjourned until 1 pm Tuesday.
Trump is accused of abuse of power for withholding military aid to Ukraine
and a White House meeting for the country’s president in exchange for an
investigation into his potential presidential election rival Democrat Joe
Biden.
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office concluded in a report
released Thursday that the White House had violated federal law by putting a hold on the congressionally approved funds for Ukraine.
“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute
his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” the
congressional watchdog said.
The second article of impeachment relates to Trump’s refusal to provide
witnesses and documents to House impeachment investigators in defiance of congressional subpoenas. — NNN-AGENCIES