The second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump officially began in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. The first day’s agenda was to focus on the constitutionality of impeaching a President after they have left office. Taking the advice of his backers, Trump relented and directed his lawyers to first focus on the technical aspect of the trial. Some are pointing out that it was only a year ago that Trump himself suggested impeaching former President Barack Obama over some comments he made about health care. Impeachment manager Representative Jamie Raskin opened the Senate hearing saying there can be no “January exception” to impeachable offenses. Mr. Raskin played for Senators a detailed video timeline of how events transpired on January 6th as Senators gathered inside the Capitol building to certify the November 2020 election results while a massive and angry mob, egged on by Trump, gathered outside and eventually breached the building, chanting “Fight for Trump.”

In their 78-page memo submitted to the Senate on Monday, Trump’s lawyers attempted to make the case that it was unconstitutional to try a former President, citing extensively the work of a constitutional law professor named Brian Kalt at Michigan State University. But Professor Kalt in an interview on NPR explained that his lengthy article on the subject in fact came to the opposite conclusion: that it is in fact constitutional to impeach a former President. He said in his interview, “The worst part is the three places where they said I said something when, in fact, I said the opposite.” Meanwhile Illinois Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger who was among those that voted to impeach Trump, wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post saying, “My fellow Republicans, convicting Trump is necessary to save America.” A second poll this week found that a majority of Americans want to see Trump convicted of inciting insurrection on January 6th. The CBS-YouGov poll released Tuesday found 56% support a day after a Gallup poll found 52% support against Trump. 

Meanwhile in Georgia, officials have launched an investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the Presidential election results there. The investigation focuses on a phone call that the former president made to Georgia State Secretary Brad Raffensperger asking him in coercive tones to “find” enough votes in the state to overturn the results.  

The federal investigation into the January 6th Capitol riot that is at the heart of the Trump impeachment trial continues. One rioter was found to be a Georgia teenager named Bruno Joseph Cua became the youngest person at 18 years of age to be charged. His charges include assault against a police officer. Meanwhile another man named Thomas Edward Caldwell, a Navy veteran and a leader of the Oath Keepers hate group has been c...