Trump impeachment: Democrats’ plan: widen GOP schisms with harrowing evidence
By shining a light on Trump’s culpability, Democrats hoped to taint his Senate supporters and widen internal schisms.
Leaks of a swearing match between Donald Trump and a top Republican politician threw his impeachment trial into disarray yesterday (Saturday) just as it seemed to be heading for a not-guilty verdict.
According to reports, Mr Trump had a furious, expletive-laced phone call with Kevin McCarthy, leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, during the critical moments of January 6, when pro-Trump rioters had invaded Congress.
The president reportedly chastised Mr McCarthy, telling him that the rioters were more concerned about the election than Mr McCarthy was. Mr McCarthy was apoplectic, telling the president his supporters were breaking into his office through the windows and insisting that he call them off. “Who the f*** do you think you are talking to?” he was reported to have said.
Details of the row were first made public by Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican congresswoman. Ms Herrera Beutler, one of the few Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last month, said: “You have to look at what he did during the insurrection to confirm where his mind was at. That line right there demonstrates to me that either he didn’t care, which is impeachable, because you cannot allow an attack on your soil, or he wanted it to happen and was OK with it, which makes me so angry.”
Ms Herrera Beutler’s testimony was included in the record of the trial, but having up-ended proceedings with a vote to call witnesses, the Democrats dramatically reversed course early this morning (AEDT).
Mr Trump’s legal team was blindsided by the shock decision to call witnesses – some lawyers had already booked travel home. One of them, Martin van der Veen, threatened to call 100 witnesses in response.
Democratic leaders in Congress were well aware, however, that President Joe Biden was hoping for a swift conclusion to the trial. The plan to introduce witnesses – potentially including the former vice- president, Mike Pence – set alarm bills ringing at the White House because it could have prolonged proceedings for several weeks.
“The most important element of the case for Democrats is the state of mind of Donald Trump,” said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University before the Senate acquitted Mr Trump. “In order to convict, Democrats need direct evidence [witnesses] to establish the intention or purpose of Mr Trump’s words.”
Mr Biden, however, was keen to return to centre stage and focus on passing a huge Covid stimulus bill, which is due to arrive in the Senate shortly. The result of all this back-and-forth was a messy climbdown by Democrats and a trial that still had no witnesses.
Following the witnesses debacle, the trial continued as planned, with the Senate voting to acquit Mr Trump, after Democrats failed to get a two-thirds majority needed for a guilty verdict. Seven Republicans voted with all 50 Democrats to convict the former president, with the vote coming down 57 to 43 to convict.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican senate leader, earlier confirmed that he was planning to vote to acquit.
But Democrats enjoyed their moment in the spotlight last week, laying out a stinging and emotive case against Trump with harrowing footage from the invasion of Congress that caused Republican senators to bow their heads in pain. Democrats painted Mr Trump as a mad, bad and frankly very dangerous person to install as president.
Jamie Raskin, their impeachment manager, recalled the mob that invaded Congress “pounding on the door like a battering ram”, describing it as “the most haunting sound I’ve ever heard”.
He broke down in tears as he recounted how he had brought his daughter into Congress on the day of the invasion, just days after burying his son, and implored senators to establish a standard for accountability in American political life. “If you don’t find this a high crime and misdemeanour … you have set a new terrible standard for presidential misconduct in the United States of America,” he said.
“It’s been searing and powerful,” said Ken Gormley, a constitutional lawyer and president of Duquesne University in Pennsylvania. “It was hard to hide from. The Democratic impeachment managers hit a nerve of people’s conscience – of what is right for a country like ours. That puts Republicans in a more difficult position than when proceedings began.”
Democrats believe that by hammering home the message of Mr Trump’s culpability for the invasion of Congress, they could taint him and the many Republicans who have nailed their colours to his mast.
“They have their eyes trained on public opinion,” said Mr Gormley. “But also history. Making it clear that he has been disgraced for unleashing an angry mob on the Capitol.”
By shining a light on Mr Trump’s behaviour, Democrats also hope to widen the pro and anti-Trump schisms that have emerged in the Republican party in recent weeks. There are indications this is having some effect, with Nikki Haley, Trump’s former ambassador to the UN and a presidential hopeful in 2024, coming out against her old boss. “He let us down,” she told Politico. “We shouldn’t have listened to him.”
Ms Haley occupies the establishment wing of the Republican Party, but her presidential ambitions make her a reliable weathervane. Where she goes, others may follow, potentially leading to a slow erosion of Mr Trump’s grip on the party.
Beyond the political class, however, the show on Capitol Hill has not gripped the country. Ultimately, while Democrats have made an emphatic point for their supporters, Mr Trump will survive and remain a political force because of his large base. For all that the 45th president has been diminished in the record books, his millions of followers view this as just one more Washington witch-hunt.
“History will judge Trump harshly for his role,” said Mr Turley. “But it will view this impeachment as something of a curiosity. The strategy from both sides has been to harden existing positions rather than persuade. Few minds have been changed as a result.”
The Sunday Times
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