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The impeachment trial began today.  

Today on Sekulow, we discussed the second Senate impeachment trial of President Trump, which begins today. This time, President Trump is a private citizen.

  When asked if the trial can be done in a week, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas replied:

"I think it might be done in a week, Bill. It’s really not up to us as Senators, we’ll be listening to the arguments of both sides. It’s up to the House Impeachment Managers and President Trump’s lawyers on how long they proceed and whether they want to request witnesses. We’ll evaluate at the time."

Senator Cotton also said:

"I think, though, today is a very important threshold question that whether the Senate has the Constitutional authority to proceed with this trial against a former President. I don’t think they do."

It’s the first day of the second impeachment trial of President Trump. This will likely be one of the most interesting days of the next six or seven due to the short time allotted for debate. Four hours, split equally, is all they get to determine whether or not this impeachment trial is constitutional at all.

You know our position on that. We do not think this trial is constitutional. Yesterday, we released a memo – which we also delivered to every U.S. Senate office – stating just that.

The ACLJ’s position follows directly from the text of the U.S. Constitution, when it says you shall have the power to remove. If there can be no removal, there can be no impeachment. We believe the Senate does not have jurisdiction in this case. President Trump is no longer in office. He is a private citizen. Previously, forty-five senators agreed with that position. What that means is there is no way you are going to reach the threshold of the required votes to convict.  

Today we’re going to see the House managers make their argument as to why they think this process is constitutional. You’ll also see President Trump’s attorneys, who this time are not household names, make the case that this process is not constitutional.

  Unlike the last impeachment trial, there are several test votes that will give us an idea as to what the final vote could look like. One, as we mentioned, already occurred weeks ago. Today, we have another.

That President Trump will be acquitted, as with the last time he was impeached, is not really in doubt. Later on in the trial there will also be a vote as to whether or not there will be witnesses.  

We’ll continue to bring you coverage of every day of the Senate trial as we did during the first one.  

The full broadcast is complete with much more discussion and analysis by our team of what to expect during the first day of the impeachment trial of President Trump and much more.

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