SCHIFF DRAWS A DARK PORTRAIT OF PRESIDENT TRUMP.
ABUSE OF POWER WILL CONTINUE, SENATE TOLD
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff presented the U.S. Senate with a dark portrait of a deeply flawed, even dangerous president as he argued that Donald Trump should be removed office.
Leading off the House prosecution of Trump on Wednesday, Schiff mustered the evidence at the heart of accusations in the articles of impeachment to describe a president who is vindictive, untruthful, a cheater, unbound by the law and above all, out for himself even at the expense of the national security of the United States and its allies.
The opening argument Wednesday suggests a prosecution mounted, as Schiff himself has said, with two juries in mind: the senators in the chamber sitting silently at their desks who will vote on the articles of impeachment and the American public, which will decide in less than 10 months on whether to return Trump to office.
“He has shown no willingness to be constrained by the rule of law, and has demonstrated that he will continue to abuse his power and obstruct investigations into himself, causing further damage to to the pillars of our democracy if he is not held accountable,” Schiff said.
Schiff’s portrait of Trump’s character dovetails with Democrats’ long-standing criticism of the president’s integrity and reservations that surface in public polls. Almost two-thirds of Americans believe Trump has definitely or probably done things that are illegal, either while in office or when he was running for president, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday. Slightly more say he has probably or definitely done things that are unethical.
Still, Americans are closely divided on whether Trump should be removed from office, with 51 per cent saying the Senate should remove him and 46 per cent saying he should remain in the presidency, according to the poll.
The judgment of Americans is likely to be more important than any influence the arguments may have on the senators.
A verdict of acquittal is almost universally expected in Washington, with the GOP in control of the chamber 53-47 and a twothirds majority needed to convict. But the historic proceedings may shape the views of voters in November’s election.
The arguments began after Democrats lost a day of battles Tuesday over subpoenas for witnesses and documents. House managers will have 24 hours to present their arguments spread over three days. That means the president’s team, led by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, will likely begin their defence on Saturday.
Attorney Jay Sekulow, a member of Trump’s defence team, said the response to the Democrats’ case would combine both a rebuttal of their arguments as well as a positive defence of the president’s actions. “We will challenge aggressively the case that they’re putting forward based on what we’re hearing and we also have an affirmative case that we’re going to make as well,” he said.
Trump joked to reporters in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday that he’d like to attend the trial himself but that his lawyers would probably object.
As Schiff was presenting his case, Trump was retweeting commentary from supporters from Air Force One on his way back the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Schiff set the impeachment trial in the arc of American history, invoking the words of Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine and Ben Franklin and the nation’s founders about foreign influence over the U.S. government, corrupt bargains and uncontrolled populist demagogy.
He tied that to the impeachment charges that Trump withheld military aid to pressure the new government in Ukraine to announce an investigation related to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who had served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, to help his re-election campaign.
“There is no question” that Trump intended to press Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into Biden, Trump’s political rival, Schiff said. “These facts are not in dispute.”
Schiff noted that Trump’s July 25 call to Zelensky came one day after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony to Congress about his investigation that found that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help elect Trump, and his campaign willingly made use of that aid.
Trump “did not feel shamed by what the special counsel found, he did not feel deterred by what the special counsel found, he felt emboldened by escaping accountability,” Schiff said. “For the very, very next day he is on the phone soliciting foreign interference” from Ukraine.
For the time being, the seven-member House team led by Schiff will have the Senate floor to themselves. Senators are required to sit silently, and no objections or questions are allowed under the rules governing the trial.
Once both sides present their cases, senators will have 16 hours to submit written questions to each side. After that, they may consider calling witnesses or subpoenaing documents.