Trump’s second impeachment trial starts this week. Here’s how to watch
Former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate is set to start this week, and there are multiple ways to watch it live.
The U.S. House of Representatives in January voted to impeach Trump — who had continuously made false claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent and stolen from him — on charges that he incited an insurrection in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol.
Just before the attack, Trump held a rally in which he told supporters to march on Capitol Hill. They then did and breached the building as Congress was certifying then President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. Lawmakers from both parties have, at least in part, blamed the attack on Trump’s rhetoric.
Now, the Senate is set to hold a trial starting Tuesday on whether to convict Trump on those charges.
How to watch
The trial is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, CNET reports, and most major TV news networks will likely carry coverage of the trial.
For those without cable or who want to watch online, some networks will also have streams available on YouTube or on their websites.
A livestream of the trial will be available on C-SPAN’s website and YouTube starting shortly before it starts.
Senate proceedings are also expected to stream on the floor webcast.
What to expect
Some details about the impeachment trial — including exactly how long it will last — remain unclear.
The trial is, however, expected to be a relatively speedy one, with some lawmakers saying “it could last roughly a week,” The Hill reports. Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, urged Democrats to get the trial over “as quickly as possible” and threatened to drag it out if they call a single witness.
Trump’s first impeachment trial lasted nearly three weeks before he was eventually acquitted in February 2020.
Tuesday is expected to include a formal debate and vote on whether trying a former president is constitutional, with a simple majority required to move forward, The New York Times reports.
In January, all but five Senate Republicans voted in favor of an effort led by Sen. Rand Paul to declare the trial unconstitutional since Trump is no longer in office, The Hill reported.
Additionally, Trump’s lawyers have pushed for the case to be dismissed, arguing “the 45th president cannot be removed from an office he no longer occupies” and that the Senate doesn’t have the authority to prevent Trump from running again for federal office.
But Democrats have argued they have precedent to support trying former officeholders. No president has been tried by the Senate after leaving office, but the Senate tried Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876 after he resigned, according to NBC News. The Constitution also grants the Senate the power to decide “whether the official shall be disqualified from again holding an office of public trust under the United States” following conviction.
Starting noon ET Wednesday, impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team would have up to 16 hours each to present their sides, a person familiar with talks on the schedule told CNN.
Trump’s legal team has indicated it will argue his speech at a rally before the Capitol attack is protected by the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court has previously ruled that the amendment doesn’t apply to some speech that “may cause a breach of the peace or cause violence.”
The trial is then expected to pause Friday and restart Sunday, according to the Times.
Trump will likely eventually be acquitted as his conviction would require a two-thirds majority, meaning 17 Republicans would have to vote in favor along with all Democrats.
This story was originally published February 8, 2021 at 9:47 AM with the headline "Trump’s second impeachment trial starts this week. Here’s how to watch."
