The US Senate on Thursday formally opened its third impeachment trial. President Donald Trump's impeachment was initiated with senators standing at their desks to swear in an oath as impartial jurors. The House prosecutors read out the charges with Chief Justice John Roberts presiding.
The trial, which is unfolding at the beginning of the election year have four senators sitting in judgment. The four senators are running for the Democratic Party's nomination to challenge him in November.
Judge Roberts began by asking the Senators, "Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, President of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and the laws, so help you, God?"
Senators filled the chamber, an unusual sight in itself, sitting silently under strict rules that prohibit talking or cellphones, for a trial that will test not only Trump's presidency but also the nation's three branches of power and its system of checks and balances.
Trump was impeached by the House on December 18, 2019, on two main charges— abuse of power by illicitly seeking help from Ukraine for his reelection and with obstruction for holding back witnesses and documents from the House impeachment investigation, thus defying Congressional subpoenas.
Pelosi handed these articles to the Senate on Wednesday. Democratic congressman and lead prosecutor Adam Schiff read out articles on impeachment as House Democrats prosecuting the case stood before him. Chuck Schumer then called for new witnesses and documents to be permitted in the trial and said, “The gravity of these charges is self-evident. The House of Representatives has accused the president of trying to shake down a foreign leader for personal gain.”
Trump, in the meantime, told White House reporters that he thought the trial "should go very quickly," calling the whole thing “a complete hoax.”
At the same time, an indicted associate of Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Lev Parnas, has turned over to prosecutors new documents linking the president to the shadow foreign policy being run by Giuliani. This has caused Senators to call more witnesses for the trial as a main source of contention remains unresolved.
The White House has instructed officials not to comply with subpoenas from Congress requesting witnesses or other information.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the new information from Parnas demands an investigation, which she doesn't expect from Trump's attorney general.
"This is an example of all of the president's henchmen, and I hope that the senators do not become part of the president's henchmen,” she said.
Senators said later that when Roberts appeared the solemnity of the occasion took hold. Republican House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took a far different view of the charges and proceedings.
He opened the chamber decrying Pelosi's decision to hand out "souvenir pens on Wednesday after she signed the resolution to transmit the charges to the Senate.
It was a transparently partisan process from beginning to end.
