Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a Democratic candidate for president, doubts the Senate trial will clear President Trump’s name in the long run.

“It counts by the procedures in the Senate but I don’t think it has the legitimacy of vindicating this president,” Mr. Buttigieg said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Senators will take the final vote Wednesday, the day after Mr. Trump delivers his State of the Union address, on whether to convict the president on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

With an acquittal all but inevitable, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week sought to question the legitimacy of the looming ruling.

Meanwhile, the Iowa caucuses, kick off Monday night and will be the first hurdle in determining which of the Democratic candidates will challenge President Trump.

“As upsetting as what’s going on in the Senate is, the thing that I’m always reminding voters of, especially in these closing days of the Iowa caucus, is that yeah, the Senate is the jury today, but we are the jury tomorrow,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “We get to send a message at the ballot box.”

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