After a three-week hiatus, Donald Trump's impeachment procedure will enter a decisive phase. Following the vote on two indictment articles by the only Democrats in the House of Representatives – where they are in the majority – on December 18, 2019, the trial of a president by the Senate is now in sight; it will be the third in the history of the United States.
His preliminaries could begin on Thursday, January 16, after a final vote of representatives scheduled for Wednesday, which will allow the solemn transmission of the two articles concerned. An acquittal of the President of the United States, due to the Republican majority in the Senate, is the most likely outcome so far.
This procedure was triggered by a telephone conversation, on July 25, 2019, between Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. During this exchange, of which the White House published a report two months later, the President of the United States asked for the opening of investigations targeting his political opponents, including former Vice President Joe Biden, favorite of the Democratic nomination contest for the November presidential election. The latter's son served on the board of directors of a Ukrainian gas company from 2014 to 2019.
The conversation had prompted a whistleblower from the intelligence community, but remained anonymous due to the protections provided by law, to issue a report to the House and Senate intelligence committees. This report was initially blocked by the justice department.
" Abuse of power "
A quick investigation by the Democratic House, concentrated over three months, met with hostility from the White House. After showing that an invitation to Washington and crucial American military aid had been conditioned to the opening of these investigations, the elected officials concluded that " abuse of power " from Donald Trump for personal political gain, and to "An obstacle to the smooth running of the Congress". The president has prohibited members of his administration from testifying or communicating documents related to the case.
Donald Trump now hopes to take revenge in the Senate where the elected representatives of the Grand Old Party (GOP) are in the majority. The head of the Republican majority in the High Assembly, Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), said he had the necessary votes to set the rules for the trial. It will be chaired by the President of the Supreme Court, John Roberts. The senators will then turn into silent jurors, since they can only intervene by written questions read by the latter.
