[rxsid]

"Question-—Is Trump a private citizen or is he still the President?"

And that's just it.

Under what authority can the Senate hold a trial and potentially convict a private citizen?

[PerConPat]

Those are the questions that cry out...And does the 14th Amdt. etc. apply? The “trial” will be a determining factor in the future or non-future of the GAP (Grand Addled Party). I can see the Supremes involved in this one.

[jstolzen]

Under what authority can the Senate hold a trial and potentially convict a private citizen?

Didn't you see the Pollutico article from earlier today? 150 "Constitutional Scholars" - INCLUDING, get this - many members of the Federalist Society all have written a letter, and concluded that yes, a "former" President can indeed be tried and convicted.

Personally, I believe it's total BS and vehemently disagree. But their reasoning is that the purpose of Impeachment is not JUST to remove the President, but to ban him from ever running again. Therefore, in their (twisted) logic, a trial is "totally" appropriate, since if you only focus on the removal, you miss the other reason that the Founders including ban of political office as a penalty.

The whole thing stinks to high heaven, and even WITH EVIDENCE the "assault" (what a joke, but let's run with that) was PRE-PLANNED, these morons think we're not going to pay attention to the facts and will let this farce be played out. How wrong they are.