OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) – Opening arguments are being heard this week in the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump. Impeachments are full of long and complicated procedures, but the trial could also end very quickly.
“Each side will get 24 hours to make their case, and then at the end of the opening arguments – they’ll take a vote on whether to admit witnesses or they could take a vote to simply dismiss the case,” says UW Oshkosh Political Science Professor Jim Simmons, “It looks like there’s going to be three days of debate and discussion. Evidence is going to be allowed unless there’s a vote against allowing it.”
That has already happened, as the GOP voted down a move to subpoena White House documents regarding Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. The initial arguments will likely run through Thursday, but there are a few directions the trial could go from there.
“Depending on if witnesses are allowed and how many there are, it could go on a month,” Simmons tells WTAQ News, “At the end of the opening arguments, there could also be a move for dismissal. In which case – that would end it.”
But even if the trial lasts weeks with heaps of witness testimony and evidence brought forward, a Democrat minority is unlikely to sway enough Republicans to vote against the president.
“Ultimately it takes a two-thirds vote to remove a president. And I’m not sure that’s likely or even possible,” Simmons says.
Democrats had accused McConnell of trying to rig a trial with proposed rules they said would prevent witnesses from testifying and bar evidence gathered by investigators. McConnell has repeatedly said the rules would mirror those used in the 1999 impeachment of then-President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
Simmons says that while applying similar rules might be fair in a generic sense, the charges against President Trump are significantly different and more serious than the perjury allegations brought against Clinton.
