2020 elections ... How does it affect Trump's trial?

Mohammed Al-Minshawi-Washington

Members of both houses of Congress left the US capital, Washington, to start the Christmas and New Year holidays, without reaching agreement on the next steps related to the trial of President Donald Trump before the Senate, after the House of Representatives officially accused him of committing two violations calling for his removal from office.

Some argue that the lack of confidence between Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress could push the United States into an unprecedented constitutional crisis, unless the parties reach an agreement on how to conduct the president’s trial.

The 2020 presidential election deepens the complexity of the crisis from two angles: first, that five of the 100 senators have Democratic candidates on the 2020 election card, and the second is related to a crowded electoral schedule that begins with the Christmas holidays.

Trump's trial is the first in American history in which a president is subjected to impeachment and trial procedures during his first term, and less than a year before new elections in which the accused president is nominated.

Trump's competitors
The Senate and its 100 members are expected to try President Trump, and members represent the jury that decides to acquit or convict the president.

The jury (Senators) will hear testimonies from experts and officials who will be summoned to testify before the court, as well as representatives of President Trump's defense team, and representatives of the indictment group who are mostly some House Democrats.

Given that there are five Democratic candidates competing for the Democratic Party card to face President Trump in the 2020 presidential election among Senators, legal experts see a "court impartiality" in denial.

The five members participate in the presidential debates in which they compete in the attack on President Trump, and pledge to defeat him and remove him from the White House.

The five candidates are: Colorado State Senator Michael Bennett, New Jersey State Senator Corey Booker, Massachusetts State Senator Elizabeth Warren, Vermont Bernie Sanders, Minnesota State Senator Amy Kloppcher.

Trump's conviction in the Senate requires a two-thirds majority (67 members), while Republicans have a 52-to-47 majority.

Busy schedule
Trump's trial should not be less than six weeks, as was the case in the trial of former President Bill Clinton.

This will intersect with a highly crowded schedule of Democratic candidates who divide their time between their work as lawmakers and conducting campaign-related activities.

The five senators will face a major dilemma, as the trial requires their presence and participation in its deliberations, and at the same time, the first stages of the party's primary elections begin by February.

February sees a primary election largely determining the identity of the Democratic candidate who wins the party's nomination card.

The beginning is with Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and finally South Carolina on February 29, and next to the elections, there will be several debates between these candidates.

During the first electoral debate that brought together seven Democratic candidates after the House of Representatives passed an indictment against President Trump and was held in California on Thursday, all candidates pledged to work to condemn Trump through his trial.

The absence of impartiality from Trump's trial is not confined to the Democrats, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "We will absolve the president in the Senate trial, because I am not a neutral jury, since the removal process is a political process, not a judicial one."

For his part, Trump called in a tweet last Thursday evening for an "immediate trial" before the Senate, as he believes that the trial procedures - which are not expected to lead to his dismissal due to the Republican control of the Senate - will benefit him more politically than it will harm him.

As for the Democrats, they are pinning their hopes on the Senate trial to uncover more facts, and pitting American public opinion against President Trump, who was accused by the House of Representatives of two violations: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.