Trump's trial ... 14 questions and answers

Mohammed Al-Minshawi-Washington

As the Senate approved, on Wednesday dawn, the regulations regarding the trial for the dismissal of US President Donald Trump, and he rejected all requests by Democrats to amend the trial procedures by a strict majority based on a party of 53 Republicans versus 47 Democrats; Al Jazeera Net is trying through questions and answers to address everything related to the trial In terms of its importance, procedures and fate.

1- Why is President Donald Trump on trial?
President Trump is being tried for his conviction in the House of Representatives for violating the law: The first relates to abuse of office powers when he called on Ukraine to investigate his Democratic political rival Joe Biden, and booked military aid as a lever, to harm a potential candidate in the presidential election. The second concerns charges of obstructing the congressional investigations that appeared in his refusal to provide documents related to the White House to the investigation team, and his refusal to cooperate with his senior aides in the investigations.

2- What is the importance of the trial? And why is it historical?
The importance of the trial stems from its theoretical basis, where an elected president can be freely removed from the American people before the end of his term in office if he is found to have violated the law.

This trial is the third of its kind in American history, and the first for a Republican president. The two Democratic presidents, Andrew Johnson, were tried in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. In both cases, the majority required to remove the president was not achieved.

It is also the first trial of a president during his first term and before he contested new elections. In addition to the decision to declare war, the trial and removal of an elected president is one of the most dangerous steps that Congress can take.

3- What is the role of the parliament in the trial?
The House of Representatives - controlled by the Democratic Party with a vote of 235 to two hundred for the Republicans - began investigations into the Ukraine scandal after a White House worker reported that the president might violate the law in his conversation with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelinsky on July 25. After the two charges were brought against Trump, the case moved to the Senate to begin the trial of the President, where seven Democrats are the indictment team, all of whom are members of the Council, headed by Representative Adam Schiff, head of the Intelligence Committee.

4- Will President Trump stand to defend himself during the trial?
President Donald Trump will not appear personally at his trial, but will be represented by a senior legal team, headed by White House Legal Adviser Pat Siboloni and Trump's personal attorney, Jay Ciccolo, and assisted by a team of its most prominent members, Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard University, an expert on the US Constitution, and former investigator Ken Starr, who represented the prosecution and investigated President Bill Clinton's 1998 infraction, which led to his trial.

5- What is the role of the Senate?
The trial takes place before the Senate, and the 100 members of the House (53 Republics versus 47 Democrats) play the role of a jury team that listens to the interventions of the prosecution and defense teams, and allows members to ask some questions in writing before voting is finally done.

Senator Mitch McConnell, the president of the Republican majority in the House, has broad powers to control the nature and timing of procedures, as long as the Republican majority supports him.

6- Who presides over the trial?
Despite the tasks and powers granted to the Vice President by the Constitution, by which he became Speaker of the Senate, the Vice President is not entitled to participate or vote in the President’s trial; hence the task of presiding over the trial was transferred to Judge Chief Justice Judge John Roberts, and Senators took an oath before him in the first step Procedural in the trial process.

7- Why did the Democrats resolve to call new witnesses and demand the disclosure of new documents?
The Democrats tried to summon the White House Chief of Staff and the former National Security Adviser in the hope that their testimonies would change the stance of some Republican members, as they knew about the details of the Ukraine crisis.

And the Democrats did not do that during the investigations of the House of Representatives for fear of resorting to the judiciary, which was the party that did not end its deliberations before the elections next November.

8- Is there a specific time to finish the trial?
The constitution left the procedures related to the trial without elaborating, hence the Senate controls the procedures that determine the time of the trial according to the preferences of the majority of the members. In the current case, the Republicans control the procedures, and they want a quick and short trial.

President Trump hopes the court will end before the deadline to deliver the State of the Union speech scheduled for the fourth of next month.

9- What is the rationale for the Democrats?
Democrats believe that what was stated in Trump's call and the President of Ukraine - in addition to what some officials who have testified to date - represent serious crimes threatening US national security and pay to isolate President Trump, and they believe that Trump does not have the authority or confidence to continue as President of the United States .

10- What are the rationale for the Republicans?
Republicans see an organized campaign against President Trump that began with his arrival in power on the back of their rejection of an unconventional and non-political president whose voice reaches the marginalized Republican constituency of Washington's elites. Republicans call for Robert Mueller's investigations into Russia's intervention, and they see the Ukraine case as a new episode, anti-Trump, who may have committed wrongdoing, but at worst it does not call for his isolation. Republicans also depend that there will be presidential elections after months, and Congress should let the people say their words about Trump's future.

11- What is the position of the American people regarding the trial?
There is an unprecedented division, and polarization, between supporters of President Trump and his opponents, which has led to close proportions with the trial against it. Repeated polls indicate a popular desire to end the Trump trial and pay attention to the real issues facing the United States.

12- Can any Republican Senator vote with the Democrats?
It is difficult for a Republican senator to vote by condemning and dismissing Trump. The cost of taking this step is significant, especially as 25 Republicans run in elections next November, and they desperately need the support of the president, especially in states where Trump is overwhelmingly popular, such as the case of Senator Susan Coleen from Maine.

Some have spoken of members who will not run in November elections, such as Senator Sarah Markotsky from Alaska and Senator Mitt Romney from Utah, but they also do not want to antagonize a grassroots supportive base for Trump, as well as some wanting to hold senior positions in the administration Trump if he is re-elected.

13- What are the effects of the trial on the chances of President Trump's re-election for a new period?
It is too early to judge Trump's chances, but history testifies that in failed attempts to isolate the president gains widespread public sympathy, but in the current severe polarization it is difficult to predict the election results and the impact of the trial on Trump's election chances.

14- What happens if Trump is acquitted or convicted in the Senate?
Theoretically, in the event of high-caliber surprises, and the final vote resulted in a majority approval of more than two-thirds of Council members against Trump; the president would be dismissed, and Vice President Mike Pence would become President of the United States, but no one imagined that such a scenario would occur.