Trump’s team rests: President’s attorney calls for an acquittal.
Defense sees dangerous precedent in a removal
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s defense team rested its case after two hours Tuesday, arguing that the charges against him do not warrant impeachment, much less his removal from office, and that “lowering the bar” would present a danger to the country.
“These articles must be rejected,” said Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s private attorneys. “The Constitution requires it. Justice demands it.”
Sekulow argued that the impeachment was based on policy differences between Democrats in Congress and the Republican administration, rather than crimes that required Trump’s removal from office.
“If that becomes the new norm, future presidents – Democrats and Republicans – will be paralyzed the moment they are elected,” Sekulow said. “The bar for impeachment cannot be set this low.”
He repeated a phrase as a warning to senators: “Danger, danger, danger.”
Trump’s lawyers began the day with 15 hours and 33 minutes of their allotted 24 hours remaining. Chief Justice John Roberts pointed out that they would not be able to use all of it by the end of the day. White House defense lawyer Pat Cipollone assured him that wouldn’t be a problem and promised to finish “by dinnertime and well before.”
The team wrapped up around 3 p.m., leaving nearly 13 hours on the clock. The trial moves to its next phase, 16 hours of questions from the senators, beginning at 1 p.m. Wednesday. Under strict procedural rules adopted on the first day of the trial last week, senators are prohibited from speaking and will pass their written questions to Roberts.
After the question phase, senators will debate whether to call witnesses, a scenario becoming increasingly likely as more Republicans said they were interested in hearing testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton after media reports about his forthcoming book Sunday.
Democrats want to hear from Bolton, who alleges in his book, according to The New York Times, that Trump told him directly that he wished to withhold nearly $400 million in military aid for Ukraine unless the country announced investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Republicans countered that Trump had ample rationale to hold up the aid until Ukraine took steps to clean up endemic corruption.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a staunch Trump supporter, said that if Democrats try to bring Bolton as a witness, they should be prepared to see the Bidens and other Democrats hauled in as well.
“I’m just telling everybody who thinks you can surgically deal with this: It’s not going to happen,” he said.
House Democrats have charged Trump with abuse of power for pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rival while withholding military aid. They also charged him with obstruction of Congress.