How Trump's 2nd impeachment trial will work — or maybe won't: Yahoo News Explains

President Trump made history on Wednesday by becoming the first U.S. president to be impeached twice. However, this time around, the Senate trial could look drastically different, with some arguing it might not happen at all. That’s because, while presidential impeachments are already incredibly rare, the certainty that a Senate trial will not start until after Trump's term ends on Jan. 20 means we are in uncharted legal territory. Yahoo News explains what we know — and what we don’t know — so far.

Video transcript

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SAM MATTHEWS: Going once, going twice, President Donald Trump certainly made history on his way out of office. He has become the first and only US president to be impeached twice. Unlike President Trump's 2019 impeachment, this time, there was some bipartisan support with 10 Republicans in the House joining their Democratic colleagues.

Now, just like in season one of Trump impeachment, the scene now shifts to the Senate. But impeachment season two will definitely look different, mainly because the star of the show will no longer be a sitting president. Mitch McConnell, one of the stars of season one as Senate majority leader, has decided not to reconvene the Senate until January 19, one day before President-Elect Biden's inauguration, meaning that President Trump would already be out of office by the time the trial ends.

So why even bother with a trial at all? Well, there is a sliver of doubt over whether or not it can even be done, with some arguing that a post-presidency impeachment trial would be unconstitutional, the general consensus is that once the Articles of Impeachment are sent over by the House, the Senate is required to hold a trial. And even though we typically think of impeachment as being mostly about removing someone from office, there are other consequences.

If convicted by a 2/3 majority of the Senate, a second simple majority vote could prevent President Trump from running for office again. While it hasn't happened before with a president, there are examples of judges and other members of the executive branch resigning and later being convicted and barred from holding office. There are some spurious reports out there that President Trump would also lose his Secret Service detail and pension, but those claims have been widely disputed.

Now, how will the trial actually work? Well, once Vice President-Elect Harris takes office, Democrats take control of the Senate. And the new star of season two, also known as the new Senate majority leader, will have a lot of say about how the proceedings will go on. When a sitting president is on trial, it's the chief justice who presides, a role Chief Justice John Roberts may be back for, or maybe not.

Usually, the vice president can't preside over the trial because they'd stand to assume the presidency. But in season two, because Kamala Harris won't have that conflict of interest, there's more room for interpretation. She could preside over the Senate trial, but most think that's unlikely and we'll stick with Chief Justice John Roberts.

Also, as you can imagine, a second season of Donald Trump impeachment drama is not what Joe Biden had in mind for his first weeks as president. He's asked the Senate to split its time between impeachment and other business. He needs them to confirm Cabinet members and potentially vote on additional COVID relief, but it's unclear whether this is doable. We'll just have to wait and see.

JOHN ROBERTS: Presiding officer declines to read the question as submitted.

SAM MATTHEWS: Finally, there's the question of whether President Trump will be called to appear before the Senate. In season one, executive privilege shielded him from having to testify. But that privilege goes away once his term ends. And it's likely his presence will be requested at center stage. But nobody really knows if he'll be willing to answer that call.

There will be cameras, and some think he might actually want to be there to defend himself to remain the star of the show. Until that time comes, though, we don't really know for sure what's going to happen. In any event, this process will be dominating the news for at least a few weeks. And we'll be here to keep you updated every step of the way, especially if there's any chance of a season three.