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The Senate will vote Saturday on the impeachment of former President Trump, with enough Republicans likely to stick by their former leader to ensure a not-guilty vote, sources told The Post.
Though the Senate is effectively controlled by Democrats, a conviction would require a two-thirds majority — or 67 senators. Procedural votes this week suggest only a handful of Republicans will join their Democratic colleagues to convict.
Proceedings are expected to begin at 10 this morning. Both sides will be given two hours to present their closing arguments to the chamber.
A final vote is expected around 3 p.m., though an exact timeline is unclear. House impeachment managers could call witnesses, potentially dragging out the process into the evening.
The trial will be carried on all major TV news networks, and will also be available for streaming through C-SPAN, PBS and YouTube.
All Democrats are expected to vote for conviction, with a handful of Republicans likely to jump ship, including Sens. Mitt Romney, Susan Collins and Ben Sasse.
Last month the House of Representatives formally impeached Trump on the charge of “incitement of insurrection.” Democrats were joined by 10 Republican lawmakers including GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney. The unprecedented second impeachment trial for a president who had already left office kicked off in the Senate earlier this week.
On day four of the trial Friday, Trump’s defense team presented their case in blistering attacks over three hours, calling the charge that the former president incited a riot at the Capitol last month “a preposterous and monstrous lie.”
The impeachment managers took 13 hours to prosecute the case against Trump earlier in the week, saying that the president’s rhetoric was the spark that led to the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol building, which resulted in seven deaths.
Trump’s lawyers attempted to turn the Democrats’ own words against them by showing a series of video clips of Democratic lawmakers urging their own supporters to “fight.”
The footage was in response to the prosecution’s video montage of CCTV footage of the Jan. 6 riot accompanied with clips from Trump’s speeches and tweets to show how close the pro-Trump rioters came to lawmakers when they breached the Capitol building. Trump attorney David Schoen accused the impeachment managers of editing Trump’s speeches to make his comments seem more sensational than they actually were.
Michael Van der Veen, another lawyer for the former president characterized the House’s video montage as “smoke and mirrors” and accused the impeachment managers of “doctoring the evidence.”
“And worse, it’s been dishonest,” he said.
Among the defense’s own video evidence was footage that featured Vice President Kamala Harris, Senator Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren using the word “fight.” In another video, Democrats were seen encouraging Black Lives Matter protestors in violent protests last year.
The defense team also focused on the First Amendment. “This trial is about far more than President Trump,” said Bruce Castor Jr., another lawyer for Trump. “It is about silencing the speech the majority does not agree with. It is about canceling 75 million Trump voters and criminalizing political viewpoints.”
“This is ordinary political rhetoric that is virtually indistinguishable from the language that has been used by people across the political spectrum for hundreds of years,” Van der Veen said.
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