‘We’re ready’: Ominous warning for Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial

Donald Trump may be out of the White House but his presence still lingers on as the Democrats prepare to banish his legacy forever.

Donald Trump may be out of the White House but he won’t be out of the limelight for some time as a looming Senate trial hangs over him.

The former president was impeached last week for allegedly inciting the January 6 Capitol riot that interrupted certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

If Mr Trump is convicted, he could be banned from holding federal office again.

The next step will see the United States Senate vote on the matter and now that Mr Biden has taken office, the Democrats are hoping to push ahead with the process “soon”.

How soon that will be is not yet known with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi overnight refusing to set a date.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is proposing that the Senate give Mr Trump’s legal team two weeks to prepare — meaning it wouldn’t take place until at least mid-February.

Despite Mr Biden making repeated pleas for the nation to come together and heal yesterday, Ms Pelosi insisted a trial “must” proceed in the face of Republican opposition.

“It will be soon. I don’t think it will be long, but we must do it,” Ms Pelosi told reporters.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Democrats were ready to take the next steps against Donald Trump. Picture: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP

“I’ll be talking with the managers as to when the Senate will be ready for the trial of the then-president of the United States for his role in instigating an insurrection on the Capitol of the United States, on our democracy, to undermine the will of the people.”

She said that Mr Trump – who would be the first ex-president ever to face such a process in Congress – should not get a “get out of jail free card” just because he has left office.

“Just because he’s now gone, thank God, you don’t say to a president, ‘Do whatever you want in the last month of your administration, you’re going to get a get out of jail card free because people think we should make nice and forget that people died here on January 6,’” she said.

When reporters pushed her to give a date for the trial, she refused to give anything away – adding that the Senate will need to figure out the structure of the trial.

She has not yet transmitted the single article of impeachment to the Senate, meaning a trial can’t start, and says she is waiting for the Senate to return to session.

“We had to wait for the Senate to be in session. They’ve now informed us they’re ready to receive, the question is other questions about how a trial will proceed. But we are – we are ready,” Ms Pelosi said.

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If convicted, Mr Trump would never be able to run for office again. Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP

She said Ms Pelosi said less evidence is needed than at Mr Trump’s first impeachment trial, which ended in February with Republicans acquitting him of abusing his power and obstructing Congress.

“The whole world bore witness to the president’s incitement, to the execution of his call to action and the violence that was used,” Ms Pelosi said.

“I do see a big difference between something that we all witnessed versus what information you might need to substantiate an article of impeachment based on a large part on a call that the president made … This is different.”

The Democrats need 17 Republican in the Senate to turn on their former leader for a conviction.

It is a tall order, especially when many Republicans are warning against continuing the process.

Putting Mr Trump on trial would only “open up Pandora’s box,” Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of the former president, told Fox News on hours after Mr Biden’s inauguration.

Impeaching and convicting a departed president “is a political exercise that will further divide the country and, I think, eventually destroy the presidency,” he added.

The parameters of a Senate trial will largely be determined by Democrats, who now control the chamber.

– With AFP