donald trump's second impeachment trial
has begun
in the u.s senate the former president
is charged with inciting insurrection in
a speech to supporters ahead of the
deadly riot at the us capital on the 6th
of january
impeachment is the process where a
public official can be charged with high
crimes or misdemeanors they're then
tried in the u.s senate
although it's not a criminal trial a
two-thirds majority is required to reach
a verdict and it could lead to a ban on
holding public office
our north america editor john circle is
in washington for us so john what's been
said so far
well the trump legal team have tried to
have the whole case dismissed on
constitutional grounds
that you can't impeach somebody who's
left office while we've been on air in
the last few moments
senators have rejected that appeal from
the trump legal team
but the real significance is how many
republicans
voted to have the case dismissed and
that would suggest
that there's an unlikely chance that
donald trump
will be convicted by that two-thirds
majority
hear ye hear ye hear you in the building
where a policeman and four protesters
lost their lives
where the trump supporting mob ran amuck
last month
donald trump today went on trial on the
question of whether donald john
trump is subject to the jurisdiction of
a court of impeachment
charged with inciting an insurrection at
the capitol
the most serious accusation ever leveled
at an american president
the democratic party prosecutors setting
out a vivid and searing video timeline
[Applause]
leading the democratic team is a
congressman who'd buried his son the day
before
the riots and he'd persuaded his wife
and daughter to come to the capital
to witness american democracy and the
peaceful transfer of power
she said dad i don't want to come back
to the capitol
of all the terrible brutal things i saw
and i heard on that day
and since then that one hit me the
hardest
that and watching someone use an
american flagpole
the flag still on it to spear
and pummel one of our police officers
ruthlessly mercilessly
if donald trump is to avoid conviction
it won't be because senators will
forgive or condone his behavior
instead it will rely on a constitutional
argument that you can't impeach a former
president
the trump legal team though seem to be
struggling to make their case
that i don't know about off the top of
my head but
each one of them once there was the
vacuum created
that the greatest deliberative bodies
the senate of greece and
sitting in athens the senate of rome the
beating heart of u.s democracy
is now padlocked and chained there are
miles of fencing and razor wire
and literally thousands of deployed
national guardsmen
this is fortress congress beyond the
heavily guarded perimeter
a few protesters are making their point
a far
cry from what the trump supporting
insurgents found a month ago
when they'd taken the former president
at his word
we fight like hell and if you don't
fight like hell you're not going to have
a country anymore
the trump defense is that his speech was
figurative
and not literal but the new president is
trying to put maximum distance
between himself and what's unfolding at
the other end of pennsylvania avenue
the senate has their job they're about
to begin it i'm sure they're going to
conduct themselves
well and that's all i'm going to have to
say about impeachment
thank you since leaving office donald
trump has spent more or less every day
playing golf
but you can be sure that today he'll be
watching
and closely john sopple bbc news
washington