The Trump team and House managers traded views on impeachment.

Impeachment ‘dangerous’ or necessary, depending on side

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s legal team issued a fiery statement ahead of opening arguments in his impeachment trial Saturday, while House Democrats said in a brief that the president had betrayed public trust with behavior that was the “worst nightmare” of the founding fathers.

The dueling statements previewed arguments both sides intend to make once Trump’s impeachment trial begins in earnest on Tuesday.

The Trump team called the Senate’s formal impeachment summons to the two articles of impeachment “a dangerous attack on the right of the American people to freely choose their president.”

Trump’s legal team, led by White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Trump personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, is challenging the impeachment on both procedural and constitutional grounds, claiming Trump has been mistreated by House Democrats and that he did nothing wrong.

“This is a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election, now just months away,” the filing states.

The lawyers said Trump “categorically and unequivocally” denies the allegations and encouraged lawmakers to reject “poisonous partisanship” and “vindicate the will of the American people” by rejecting both articles.

The House’s 111-page brief pulled together the private and public testimony of a dozen witnesses — ambassadors and national security officials — who raised concerns about the president’s actions with Ukraine.

In their brief, the House managers overseeing the prosecution wrote that it is clear that the “‘evidence overwhelmingly establishes” that Trump is guilty of both charges for which he was impeached last month: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

“The only remaining question is whether the members of the Senate will accept and carry out the responsibility placed on them by the Framers of our Constitution and their constitutional Oaths,” the brief states.

Trump will file a more detailed legal brief on Monday, and the House will be able to respond to the Trump filing on Tuesday.

The House’s impeachment managers are working through the weekend and will be at the Capitol midday Sunday to prep the case.

People close to the Trump legal team said that Cipollone would deliver the president’s opening argument before the Senate and Sekulow would follow.

Pat Cipollone