House managers present case
House managers, led by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., began presenting three days of opening arguments Wednesday in the historic Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Schiff, D-Calif., opened his argument for convicting Trump by quoting founding father Alexander Hamilton, who once imagined a scenario in which a future president would put his own interests before that of the nation.
Quoting Hamilton – though clearly seeking to draw a parallel with Trump – Schiff described ‘‘a man unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents, having the advantage of military habits, despotic in his ordinary demeanour, known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty.’’
To protect from that kind of leader, Schiff said, the founders created impeachment as a safeguard. ‘‘This solemn action, for only the third time in history, because Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States, has acted precisely as Hamilton and his contemporaries feared,’’ Schiff said.
Trump was impeached by the House last month. He is accused of withholding military aid and a White House meeting to pressure Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden, a political rival, as well as his son Hunter Biden.
Senate Chaplain Barry Black kicked off yesterday’s Senate trial proceedings with prayer, just hours after Chief Justice John Roberts admonished the House managers and the White House defence team for their escalating rhetoric.
‘‘Help them remember that patriots reside on both sides of the aisle, that words have consequences, and that how something is said can be as important as what is said,’’ Black said. ‘‘Give them a civility built upon integrity that brings consistency in their beliefs and actions.’’
Afterward, those in the chamber rose for the Pledge of Allegiance, and the trial resumed.
Under rules for the trial adopted by the Senate after a marathon session, both the House managers and Trump’s lawyers will have 24 hours to present their cases, spread over three days.
On Wednesday, Republicans turned back repeated Democratic efforts to subpoena documents and witnesses that the Democrats insisted would be key in proving whether Trump abused the powers of the presidency when he asked Ukraine for political investigations.
Under the rule adopted by the Senate along party lines, decisions about witnesses will be delayed until after both sides make their presentations and senators have a chance to submit written questions.
Earlier in the day, Trump said at a news conference in Switzerland that he ‘‘can live either way’’ with the Senate’s decision on whether to call witnesses in a trial focused on his administration’s conduct toward Ukraine.
But Robert Ray, a member of Trump’s legal team, said yesterday that its position is that the Senate doesn’t need to hear from witnesses.
‘‘But, of course, if they do, it has to be fair and it has to be done fairly to both sides,’’ Ray added during an appearance on Fox News.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters that any deal with Republicans on a witness trade is ‘‘off the table.’’
‘‘I think that’s off the table,’’ Schumer said when asked whether he would agree to a trade of Hunter Biden’s testimony for that of former national security adviser John Bolton. ‘‘First of all, the Republicans have the right to bring in any witness they want. They haven’t wanted to. And that trade is not on the table.’’
Joe Biden told a voter in Osage, Iowa, yesterday that he would not participate in any witness swap as part of the Senate impeachment trial. The voter asked the former vice president whether he would offer to testify in return for top Trump administration officials, such as acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney or Bolton, taking the stand. Biden said that it was ‘‘not an irrational question to ask’’ but that he would not engage in such a trade. ‘‘The reason I would not make the deal, the bottom line is, this is a constitutional issue,’’ Biden said. ‘‘We’re not going to turn it into a farce or political theatre. I want no part of that.’’
Biden also defended his son Hunter, whom Republicans have been scrutinising.
‘‘No one has suggested my son did anything wrong,’’ Biden said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a leading ally of Trump, told The Washington Post that 45 Republicans are ready to dismiss the charges against the president and said he would keep pushing to rally a majority of GOP senators to end the impeachment trial.
‘‘This solemn action, for only the third time in history, because Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States, has acted precisely as Hamilton and his contemporaries feared.’’
Representative Adam Schiff
House prosecution manager