A resolution has been submitted to the Senate of the US Congress to impeach the 45th President Donald Trump, whose term of office as head of state has already expired.
The former head of the White House is charged under the article "incitement to mutiny" - the document says that Trump's actions fall under the constitutional wording of "grave crimes and misconduct."
We are talking about the events that took place in Washington on January 6, when the president's supporters stormed the Capitol, as a result of which five people died, including a police officer.
According to the interim head of the Senate Patrick Leahy, the lower house of the US Congress "is ready to start the process."
Nevertheless, it was decided to postpone the procedure until February in order to give Trump's lawyers an opportunity to get acquainted with the case and prepare, and Biden to make the first appointments as president.
According to American media reports, Trump's impeachment proceedings will start on February 9.
Earlier, the leader of the Democratic majority in the upper house of Congress, Chuck Schumer, indicated that the process against the ex-President of the United States will start in the week beginning on February 8.
According to the procedure, members of the House of Representatives will act as prosecutors, while senators will take the position of the jury.
To declare impeachment, it is necessary that two-thirds of the senators vote for it, that is, 67 people out of 100.
The chairman of the trial, as CNN reported, citing some sources, will be Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, not Supreme Court Chief John Roberts.
This is due to the fact that we are not talking about the impeachment of the current president of the United States of America.
In this case, Leahy will also have the right to vote in the process, the newspaper claims.
At the moment, the 80-year-old senator is the interim head of the Senate.
He is the second highest-ranking official in the upper house of Congress after the US Vice President.
Joe Biden
Reuters
© Kevin Lamarque
Meanwhile, incumbent head of state Joe Biden expressed doubt that the resolution to impeach his predecessor would gain the required number of votes.
In his opinion, if Trump's powers had lasted another six months, the result would have been different.
"The Senate has changed since when I worked there, but it has not changed so much," he was quoted as saying by CNN.
At the same time, the head of the White House considers it necessary to remove Trump from power, even though the consideration of this issue may slow down the implementation of the legislative agenda of the administration of the 46th president.
According to him, the absence of proceedings against his predecessor would have had a more negative effect.
Along with this, the American media report that two weeks before the start of the trial, Donald Trump continues to look for lawyers in his team who will defend him during the trial.
The fact is that Rudolph Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, will not be able to defend him, since he is formally considered a witness in this case.
At the moment, attorney Butch Bowers has agreed to represent the interests of the former head of the White House, with whom they have already begun to discuss the "defense strategy."
In addition, according to press reports, the ex-president is also considering the candidacy of Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, who had previously defended him.
Some lawyers do not agree to work because they do not want to participate in this process, which is associated with the recent unrest in the United States.
Recall that on January 6, a large-scale rally of Trump supporters was held in Washington.
The action was timed to coincide with a meeting dedicated to the approval of the results of the presidential election, which was won by Joe Biden.
The demonstration turned into riots, and protesters broke into the Capitol building.
The clashes killed five people, including a police officer.
After that, American politicians, primarily from the Democratic Party, called Trump responsible for the unrest that occurred, although the Republican urged his supporters to act peacefully.
Then the US House of Representatives registered a resolution to impeach the 45th president for "inciting mutiny."
In addition, then vice-president Mike Pence was called on to use the 25th amendment to the US Constitution to remove the head of state, but he refused.
Pence’s decision did not affect Congressmen - 232 members of the lower house voted in favor of the resolution.
Thus, Donald Trump became the first American leader to be impeached twice by the US House of Representatives.
He also became the first against whom the process is being conducted after leaving office.
The meeting on the process of the first impeachment of the 45th US President Donald Trump.
December 2019
Reuters
Recall that for the first time Trump was accused of abuse of power and obstruction of the work of Congress.
Allegedly, he "for personal and political gain at the expense of national security" tried to put pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to initiate an investigation against Burisma, whose board of directors previously included Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden.
Also, the 45th US President was accused of introducing a ban on participation in congressional hearings for current employees of the US State Department and the White House who received the corresponding summons.
This attempt to remove Trump from power was unsuccessful, the senators then did not pass the impeachment resolution.