BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Tuesday marked the first day of former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial. He is charged with incitement of an insurrection following the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Lawyers for the former president are set to argue that holding the trial after Trump has left office is unconstitutional.
Sen. Ed Markey told WBZ NewsRadio that he “will hear all of the evidence that the Trump lawyers put on, but their argument seems to be that we don’t have any right to have this trial,” which he believes is “fundamentally wrong.”
“The House of Representatives impeached Donald Trump while he was still president and the Constitution says the trial must then be conducted,” Markey said. “I am going to vote against Trump’s lawyers because I think that is absolutely imperative that we have the president made accountable for his actions on Jan. 6.”
Markey also said that the “underlying premise” of this trial is that the senators were witnesses to the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“I will do my best as a juror to ensure there’s a full argument given by the president’s lawyers, but at the same time I do have a very good understanding of what did happen that day because I was there,” Markey said.
If the Senate does not convict Trump, Markey said there is “an avenue for the censure of the president.”
“A trial does not preclude a censure resolution should Donald Trump be acquitted in a trial. And a censure resolution shouldn’t be used, at the same time, as a reason not to move forward,” Markey said. “We can do both and my hope is that if we do fail in the conviction vote that we move forward on a censure resolution. I think history requires us to make this very clear conclusion the president of the United States incited a riot against the Capitol of our country.”
Follow WBZ NewsRadio: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | iHeartmedia App
(Photo: Getty Images)