The US Senate Democrats and Republicans' pleadings in President Donald Trump's parliamentary trial ended, and the Senate is scheduled to vote on Wednesday to condemn or exonerate the president.
The closing arguments of the prosecution and defense teams took place yesterday in the case that includes accusing Trump of abuse of power and obstructing the work of Congress, against the background of accusing him of withholding four hundred million dollars in military aid from Ukraine, as a way to pressure it to open an investigation aimed at discrediting the potential Democratic candidate for the US presidential election. Next Joe Biden.
Judge John Roberts, the chief judge of the US Supreme Court, presided over the session - which lasted about four hours - and was followed by a regular session of the Senate in which members of the Senate gave their views on Trump's condemnation or acquittal, and the president's dismissal requires a two-thirds majority (67 instead of a hundred members of Congress), which seems Almost impossible given the Republican control of the Senate.
In the closing session of the pleadings, the scene of the same division between the Democrats and Republicans, which started the trial in the House of Representatives last December, was repeated.
The closing arguments took place after the Senate last week rejected the Democrats' request to call witnesses and request new documents, given the presence of a Republican majority in the House (53 Republicans versus 47 Democrats).
The Senate is scheduled to hold a final vote at 9:00 p.m. tomorrow (GMT Wednesday) on charges of abuse of power and obstructing the work of Congress sent by Trump to the House of Representatives, before referring them to the Senate as a basis for the president's parliamentary trial.
A number of Democrats in the Senate emphasized during the closing arguments on what they consider to be valid reasons for removing Trump, in this context the head of the Democratic Prosecution team, Senator Adam Schiff, spoke of compelling evidence that the President must be removed.
On the other hand, members of the president's defense team stressed his innocence of the two charges against him, and the White House lawyer considered that the indictment issued by the House of Representatives - which is controlled by Democrats - was politically motivated, stressing that Trump did not make any mistake, and called for a vote against his conviction.
As for Trump himself, he again attacked his Democratic opponents, describing his attempt to isolate him as biased and merely a deception, and considered that the strong performance of the American economy will help him win a second presidential term.
In remarks to the American Fox Channel, the American president seemed confident about the expected result of the Senate vote, and he said that he did not consider retracting his annual speech on the state of the union scheduled for Tuesday evening, Washington time.