Only if it is President of the United States.
Trump isn’t POTUS
If you look at the Belknap arguments you could make one that it relates back to when he was POTUS and thus Roberts should try it.
Unsettled area.
Maybe a Con lawyer expert on the Senate can chime in and say whether the Senate has the power to designate Roberts (even if he doesn’t want to do it)
Trump isn’t POTUS.
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He isn’t? I say he is. See tagline. He was legally elected, was he not? The fact he was deposed under false and illegal actions does not negate actual facts.
And the fact that a Senate hearing to remove the President can only mean they actually also consider him a legitimate president adds credibility to what we already know:
Biden is a false puppet placed in power, but Trump is still our president.
The Senate isn't even a branch, it is a chamber of the bicameral Congress. It cannot speak for Congress alone, except within its plenary power of advice and consent, and treaty ratification.
Regarding impeachment, the Senate already has the consent of the House, but it still cannot compel the Chief Justice to appear (the Constitution would, if conditions apply). If the Senate disapproves of the Chief Justice's behavior, it can always seek the House to level impeachment charges against the Chief Justice for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, or failure to demonstrate Article III "good behavior." On the latter point, "good behavior" does not mean refusal to cave to the demands of Congress, as much as Pelosi and Schumer wish it to be.
It appears that the Chief Justice took the literal meaning of the Constitution and decided that the President is not being tried and therefore his appearance is not called for. It is his call to make, and he made it. Based on that, citizen Trump should appeal to the Supreme Court to rule that the trial is unconstitutional because there is no penalty; he has already been removed from office by the Electoral College.
-PJ
The only remedy of conviction is removal of the president.
Biden is the only president we have.
Convict Trump - Remove Biden.