WASHINGTON: Democrats begin formally making their case on Wednesday (Feb 10) that former President Donald Trump should be convicted for inciting the United States Capitol siege, a day after a divided Senate concluded his impeachment trial could proceed even though Trump has already left office.
The House of Representatives has charged Trump with inciting an insurrection after he delivered a fiery speech on Jan 6 exhorting thousands of supporters to march on the Capitol, where members of Congress were gathered to certify President Joe Biden's electoral victory.
In an assault that stunned the world, rioters stormed the building in a futile effort to stop Biden's win, sending lawmakers into hiding and leaving five people dead, including a police officer.
On Tuesday, the Senate voted largely along party lines that the impeachment trial could move ahead even though Trump's term ended on Jan 20. Six out of 50 Republican senators broke with their caucus to side with Democrats.
The outcome suggests Democrats face long odds in securing a conviction and barring Trump from ever again seeking public office. A two-thirds majority in the Senate must vote to convict, which means at least 17 Republicans would have to defy Trump's still-potent popularity among Republican voters.
The trial is unfolding inside the Senate chamber, where senators now serving as jurors were forced to flee for their safety a month ago as a mob broke into the building.
Nine Democratic House members acting as Trump's prosecutors began the proceedings on Tuesday by airing a graphic video that interspersed excerpts of Trump's speech with scenes from the attack, including clips of police officers under assault and a rioter fatally shot by authorities.
The Democrats accused Trump of committing an unforgivable offence by encouraging his backers to block the peaceful transfer of power, a hallmark of American democracy.
"If that's not an impeachable offence, then there's no such thing," said US Representative Jamie Raskin, who delivered an emotional speech recounting how he became separated from his daughter and son-in-law during the violence.
FREE-SPEECH RIGHTS
Trump's lawyers argued that the former president's rhetoric, including repeated false claims that the election was stolen, is protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, and that the individuals who breached the Capitol, not Trump, were responsible for their own criminal behaviour.
The lawyers sought to portray the trial as a sham, asserting that Democrats had weaponised impeachment to end Trump's political career while ignoring basic principles of fairness and due process.
"We are really here because the majority in the House of Representatives does not want to face Donald Trump as a political rival in the future," Bruce Castor, one of Trump's lawyers, told senators.
The Democratic-led House impeached Trump one week after the riot, making him only the third US president to be impeached and the first to be impeached twice.
Trump's first impeachment trial, which stemmed from his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden during the presidential campaign, ended in an acquittal a year ago in what was then a Republican-controlled Senate.
Party leaders have agreed on a fast-moving schedule that could lead to a vote on conviction or acquittal by early next week. Some Democrats had expressed concern that a prolonged trial could delay progress on Biden's agenda, including a proposed US$1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
Biden will not watch much of the trial, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said this week, adding that he is focused on the pandemic rather than his predecessor's fate.
When asked by reporters on Monday, the president declined to say whether he believed Trump should be convicted.
BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who himself first seized power in a coup, said on Wednesday (Feb 10) that he had received a letter from Myanmar's new junta leader asking for help to support democracy.
Prayut, who overthrew an elected prime minister in 2014 and stayed in office after a 2019 election which his rivals said was badly flawed, told reporters in Bangkok that he had always supported democracy in the neighbouring country.
Min Aung Hlaing's army overthrew elected civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb 1 and detained her, alleging fraud in an election last year that her party won in a landslide. The electoral commission had dismissed the army's claims.
"We are supportive of the democratic process in Myanmar, but what is most important today is to maintain good relations because it impacts the people, the economy, border trade, particularly now," Prayut said.
"Thailand supports the democratic process. The rest is up to him to see how to proceed," he said.
Since the coup, Myanmar has been convulsed by the biggest protests in more than a decade as Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters challenge the coup that halted a tentative decade-long transition to democracy.
Thailand witnessed its biggest protests in decades last year as Prayut's opponents demanded that he step down, accusing him of engineering the last election to continue the domination of Thai politics by the army and monarchy. He denies any interference.
The Thai and Myanmar armies have had close working relationships in recent decades despite a distant history of enmity between the countries.
YANGON: Myanmar's military raided the Yangon headquarters of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party late on Tuesday (Feb 9), officials said, as the United States joined the UN in "strongly" condemning violence against protesters demanding a return to democracy.
The latest assault on Myanmar's civilian leadership came as anger at last week's coup and the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi by the generals has driven hundreds of thousands of people into the streets, defying a military government ban on rallies.
"The military dictator raided and destroyed NLD headquarters at around 9.30pm," the National League for Democracy announced on its Facebook page.
The party's short statement gave no further details.
The raid came after demonstrations erupted for a fourth straight day Tuesday, with police using water cannon in several cities, firing rubber bullets at protesters in the capital Naypyidaw and deploying tear gas in Mandalay.
Police use water cannons to disperse demonstrators during a protest in Mandalay, Myanmar on Feb 9, 2021. (Photo: AP)
The rallies came despite a warning from the military government that it would take action against demonstrations that threatened "stability", and a new ban on gatherings of more than five people.
The United States, which has led global censure of the coup, on Tuesday renewed its call for freedom of expression in Myanmar - and for the generals to step down.
"We strongly condemn violence against demonstrators," US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters, adding that people in Myanmar "have rights to peaceful assembly".
"We repeat our calls for the military to relinquish power, restore democratically elected government, release those detained and lift all telecommunication restrictions and to refrain from violence," he said.
Price has previously said US requests to speak to Aung San Suu Kyi had been denied.
TWO PROTESTERS SHOT
As night fell, the United Nations also voiced its "strong concern" over the violence.
"The use of disproportionate force against demonstrators is unacceptable," said Ola Almgren, the UN resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday the bloc could impose fresh sanctions on Myanmar's military, but warned any punishment should not hit the population.
"We are currently reviewing all our options," Borrell told lawmakers at the European Parliament.
In Naypyidaw, the remote capital purpose-built by the previous military regime, witnesses said police fired projectiles at protesters after earlier blasting them with water cannon.
"They fired warning shots to the sky two times, then they fired (at protesters) with rubber bullets," a resident told AFP.
At least one emergency room doctor said the military were also using live rounds, leaving a 23-year-old man and 19-year-old in critical condition in hospital.
"We believe they are actual bullets because of the wounds and their injuries," the doctor said.
The father of one of the victims said his son had been shot "when he tried to use the megaphone to ask people to protest peacefully after the police used water cannon to disperse them."
"He got hit in the back ... I'm very worried about him," the 56-year-old goldsmith told AFP.
Police in riot gear march to take a position to block demonstrators at an intersection during a protest in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Feb 9, 2021. (Photo: AP)
In Mandalay, the country's second-biggest city, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters.
'WE ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE'
A witness, who declined to be named out of fear of the authorities, said she gave shelter to about 20 protesters, offering them water, towels and fresh face masks.
Earlier this week, the protests by hundreds of thousands appeared to have rattled the military, with military chief General Min Aung Hlaing making a televised speech Monday to justify seizing power, citing election fraud claims.
He promised things would be different from the army's previous 49-year reign, which ended in 2011. The military also announced a curfew and a ban on protest gatherings.
But on Tuesday, fresh demonstrations erupted in Yangon, including near the NLD's headquarters, with protesters carrying placards calling for Aung San Suu Kyi's freedom and declaring "No dictatorship".
Protesters sitting on a road blocked by police in riot gear flash the three-fingered salute, a symbol of resistance, during a protest in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Feb 9, 2021. (Photo: AP)
By afternoon, thousands had gathered nearby, carrying umbrellas and wearing raincoats as they faced off against police, who had water cannon trucks blocking protesters from marching.
"Of course we are worried (about a crackdown)," said protester Khin Thida Nyein, a teacher. "We only have one life but we still come out .... as we are more concerned for the future of our children."
Protesters dispersed by nightfall, with no reports of clashes.
Meanwhile, civil aviation workers and air traffic controllers have joined a civil disobedience movement, with their strike set to impact international flights wanting to pass through Myanmar's air space.
It will also hit the military government's coffers, which are set to lose overflight fees paid by airlines that could be worth up to US$182,000 per day.
MILITARY PROMISES
The NLD won national elections in November by a landslide, but the military never accepted the results.
Protesters run after police fire warning-shots and use water cannons to disperse them during a protest in Mandalay, Myanmar on Feb 9, 2021. (Photo: AP)
It has announced a one-year state of emergency and promised to hold fresh elections after that.
WASHINGTON: US senators viewed harrowing video from the storming of Congress by Donald Trump's supporters at the start of his historic second impeachment trial on Tuesday (Feb 9), despite the defence team's attempt to declare the whole procedure unconstitutional.
According to Trump's lawyers, a president cannot be tried after impeachment when he has already left office.
Democratic impeachment managers - lawmakers in the role of prosecutors - attacked the unconstitutionality argument, saying that Trump had broken his oath in a naked bid to retain power after losing the November election.
Refusing to accept defeat to Joe Biden, Trump spread lies about vote rigging and repeatedly pressured officials, including then vice president Mike Pence, to try and stop the transfer of power.
Finally, on Jan 6, Trump told enraged Republican supporters near the White House to "fight like hell". The crowd, chanting "stop the steal," then attacked Congress, where Pence and lawmakers were in the process of certifying Biden's victory.
"If Congress were to just stand completely aside in the face of such an extraordinary crime against the Republic, it would invite future presidents to use their power without any fear of accountability," Democratic prosecutor Joe Neguse said.
Video from the Jan 6 mayhem played back inside the ornate Senate packed the biggest punch.
Senators - who witnessed the events first hand when they had to be rushed to safety that day - watched raw footage of Trump's speech and the crowd's ensuing assault on the Capitol.
The video montage showed the mob chanting pro-Trump slogans as it smashed through the doors, swarmed over police, and managed for the first time in history to disrupt the congressional vote certifying the election.
"If that's not an impeachable offence, then there is no such thing," impeachment manager Jamie Raskin said.
Fighting tears, Raskin recounted how he and his family - who were visiting to watch the certification - had been trapped, listening to "the sound of pounding on the door like a battering ram, the most haunting sound I have ever heard."
"This cannot be the future of America," he implored senators.
TRUMP SETS RECORD
Trump is the first president ever to face two impeachment trials - he was already acquitted in 2020 of abuse of office - as well as the first in history to be tried after leaving the White House.
His team is basing its case largely on the procedural argument that a former president cannot be tried, calling the Senate trial "absurd."
They also argue that whatever Trump said during his Jan 6 rally is protected by the constitutional right to free speech and did not amount to ordering the assault on Congress.
The trial is clearly uncomfortable for many Republican senators, who, like their Democratic colleagues, had to flee to safety during the violence. Reminders of the mayhem are everywhere around them, with thousands of National Guard troops still deployed around the newly fortified Capitol building.
Despite this, a second acquittal is all but certain for Trump, who is holed up in his luxury Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Democrats hold 50 of the 100 Senate seats and Vice President Kamala Harris is able to cast a tie-breaking vote. But it would take a two-thirds majority for a conviction, meaning at least 17 Republican senators would have to join.
Amped up on four years of Trump's populist claims to be fighting for ordinary people against the elites, huge numbers of Republican voters continue to support the ex-president, pushing their party ever further to the right.
Polls show that a small majority of the country overall believes Trump deserves conviction. An Ipsos/ABC News poll found 56 per cent back this, while a Gallup poll found 52 per cent support.
Among Republicans, however, an overwhelming majority opposes convicting Trump.
It's not clear yet how long the trial will last but it will be shorter than the three-week marathon of Trump's first impeachment and could end as soon as next week.
BIDEN ABOVE THE FRAY
Biden, who succeeded Trump on Jan 20, is attempting to stay above the fray.
Daily, the White House is sending a message that the Democrat is focused instead on the fragile economy and the desperate effort to vaccinate Americans against the still out-of-control COVID-19 pandemic.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki reiterated Tuesday that Biden is "going to wait for the Senate to determine the outcome of this."
"He's not going to comment on the back and forth arguments, nor is he watching them," Psaki told reporters.
If Trump were convicted, the Senate would then hold a simple-majority vote on barring him from future public office.
But even if the impeachment trial ends in acquittal, calls to punish Trump for his behavior will likely continue, including possibly a push for a bipartisan vote of censure.
