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Washington (AP) - The prosecutors in the impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump consider his responsibility for storming the Capitol to be proven and are calling for the former US president to be suspended from office.

"The responsibility of President Trump for the events of January 6th is clear," said a statement published on Tuesday by the House of Representatives before the Senate trial began.

"President Trump's incitement to riot requires his conviction and his exclusion from future federal offices."

Trump's new lawyer, David Schoen, rejected the impeachment proceedings as "unconstitutional".

The impeachment proceedings against Republican Trump are due to begin in the Senate on Tuesday next week.

However, the two-thirds majority in the chamber that is necessary for a conviction is not emerging.

This would require 17 Republicans to vote with the 50 Democrats.

A conviction would be a prerequisite for a further vote on a ban on office at the federal level, which would thwart a possible candidacy of Trump in the presidential election in 2024.

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In the 80-page statement of the prosecutor, the reason for a ban on office was: “This is not a case in which elections alone are sufficient protection against future abuse;

it is the electoral process itself that President Trump has attacked and that must be protected from him and anyone else who tries to imitate his behavior. "

Trump's attempt to keep himself in power by inciting violence despite the lost election is "a grave violation of the oath he swore".

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives decided to open impeachment proceedings for “inciting riot” on January 13, a week after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.

Trump is accused of inciting his supporters at a rally before the riots.

Among other things he had said: "If you don't fight like the devil, you will have no more land."

Trump attorney Schoen told Fox News on Monday evening with a view to the attack on Congress: "It has nothing to do with President Trump."

Trump had “condemned violence at all times”.

The suspension of office sought by the Democrats is a "slap in the face" for the 74 million Americans who voted for Trump in the November 3rd election.

Trump's supporters had tried to forcibly prevent Congress from officially making Democrat Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election official.

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In their statement, the prosecutors rejected the arguments of a large majority of Republicans in the Senate that the trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office.

It is unthinkable that the authors of the constitution wanted to leave the nation defenseless "against the betrayal of a president in his last days".

"A president must answer comprehensively for his behavior in office from his first to his last day in office."

The House of Representatives also decided to open the procedure during Trump's term of office, which ended on January 20.

It is also controversial among lawyers whether impeachment proceedings in the Senate against an ex-president are constitutional.

The corresponding constitutional article explicitly names presidents, vice-presidents and government officials against whom such proceedings can be directed.

However, the Congressional Scientific Service (CRS) writes: “It appears that most of the scholars who have studied the issue have concluded that Congress has the power to extend impeachment to government officials who are no longer in the Are office. "

Trump had only set up his defense in the process on Sunday.

The broadcaster CNN had previously reported that the previous team had "practically collapsed" because the five lawyers scheduled for then would not represent Trump.

The reason for this were differences in defense strategy.

Trump demanded that the lawyers focus on his unsubstantiated election fraud allegations instead of questioning the legality of impeachment proceedings against an already resigned president.

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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210202-99-273886 / 2

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