WASHINGTON, Jan 26, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – White House lawyers began their
defense of Donald Trump at his historic Senate impeachment trial on Saturday,
saying the president did nothing wrong in his dealings with Ukraine and
American voters — not Congress — should decide his fate.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone said it would be a “completely
irresponsible abuse of power” if the Senate follows the lead of the House of
Representatives and votes to remove the 45th US president from office.
“They’re asking you to do something that no Senate has ever done,”
Cipollone told the 100 senators gathered on a rainy Saturday morning for a
rare weekend session at just the third impeachment trial in US history.
Democratic prosecutors from the House, which impeached Trump last month
for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, had not convincingly made
their case that the president had committed “high crimes and misdemeanors,”
as demanded by the Constitution, Cipollone said.
“We don’t believe that they have come anywhere close to meeting their
burden for what they’re asking you to do,” he told a hushed Senate chamber.
“We believe when you hear the facts… you will find that the president did
absolutely nothing wrong.”
House prosecutors spent the previous three days laying out a detailed case
that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine and a White House meeting to
pressure his Ukrainian counterpart to open an investigation into political
rival Joe Biden and the former vice president’s son Hunter, who served on the
board of a Ukrainian gas company.
Adam Schiff, the chief House prosecutor, said the real estate tycoon
turned politician poses an “imminent threat” to American democracy and his
guiding principle is “Trump first, not America first.”
Cipollone argued that Democrats were asking the Senate to “tear up all of
the ballots” from the 2016 presidential election and attempting to prevent
Trump from running for re-election in November.
“They are here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election
in American history and we can’t allow that to happen,” the White House
counsel said. “Let the people decide for themselves.”
– ‘Death Valley’ –
The Democratic-controlled House impeached Trump on December 18 in a party-
line vote, setting up a trial in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53 to
47 seat edge and the president enjoys the support of Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell.
A two-thirds majority, or 67 senators, is required to remove a president
from office and Democrats do not appear to have made any significant inroads
so far in Trump’s wall of Republican support.
Following the session, top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said the
president’s attorneys “made a really compelling case” for calling witnesses
during the trial, a move Trump has opposed.
Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican from Utah and occasional Trump critic,
said he was “likely” to support the Democrats’ demand but other Republicans
indicated that their minds were all but made up.
“Today we heard a case that was strong, that was clear and that completely
undermined the case of the Democrats,” Senator John Barrasso, a Republican
from Wyoming, said of the White House defense.
Just before his lawyers began speaking, Trump fired off a tweet with
insulting nicknames for leading Democrats and told his supporters to tune in
to the live television broadcast.
The White House lawyers kept their opening arguments short — just under
two hours — in part, perhaps, because Trump, a former reality television
star, had complained that Saturday is the “Death Valley” of TV viewership.
– ‘Impeachment Hoax’ –
Following the defense presentation, Trump claimed it had demonstrated how
“unfairly” he has been treated and showed he was the victim of a “partisan
Impeachment Hoax.”
Trump’s lawyers will resume his defense on Monday. They will have 24 hours
spread over three days for their arguments but have said they are unlikely to
use all the time allotted.
Saturday’s brief session was a relief to the four senators battling for
the Democratic presidential nomination, allowing them to return to the
campaign trail.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren,
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and Colorado Senator Michael Bennet have been
forced to remain in Washington while Biden and other candidates campaign in
Iowa, which kicks off the nominating process on February 3.
Senators will have 16 hours next week to direct questions to both sides
and consider whether they should subpoena witnesses, something Democrats have
sought but Republicans have opposed.
The questions from senators will be submitted in writing to US Supreme
Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial and will
read them out loud.
Americans appear about evenly split on whether Trump should be removed,
though several polls show a healthy majority want the Senate to subpoena
witnesses for Trump’s trial.