Dems warn of 2020 election interference Concerns arise as likely acquittal looms

WASHINGTON — Speaking before senators who already had made up their minds, House Democrats on Monday warned of election interference in the 2020 presidential contest and that congressional investigations could continue after President Donald Trump’s likely acquittal in the third impeachment trial in U.S. history.

The six House Democrats arguing the case against Mr. Trump came back to the Senate floor after failing to convince the majority of senators to call witnesses in the impeachment trial. The Senate last week voted 51-49 to reject efforts to subpoena witnesses and documents, effectively ending the trial.

With the Republican-controlled chamber ready to acquit Mr. Trump on Wednesday, the Democrats tailored their closing arguments to the implications of leaving the president in office.

“President Trump remains a clear and present danger,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told the senators. “He is decimating our global standing as a beacon of democracy while corrupting our free and fair elections here at home.”

House Democrats accused Mr. Trump of abusing his power by freezing nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine and delaying a White House meeting with its new president to extort the American ally into helping his prospects in this November’s election.

Mr. Trump, the Democrats asserted, demanded Ukraine announce a probe into a Ukrainian energy firm, Burisma, on whose board sat Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden. In December, the House impeached Mr. Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

On Monday, Mr. Jeffries suggested the 2020 presidential election could be in doubt if the Senate were to leave Mr. Trump in office.

“Absent conviction and removal, how can we be assured that this president will not do it again?” Mr. Jeffries asked.

“If we are to rely on the next election to judge the president’s efforts to cheat in that election, how can we know that the election will be free and fair? How can we know that every vote will be free from foreign influence, solicited by the president himself?”

Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, proposed a different resolution, asking his colleagues to consider censuring Mr. Trump, a less severe outcome than removal from office.

“What the president did was wrong,” Mr. Manchin said in a speech on the Senate floor.

White House lawyers have argued Mr. Trump did nothing wrong and lobbed their own accusations of election interference. They portrayed the impeachment inquiry as a rushed, politically motivated exercise that arose from policy disagreements rather than the “high crimes and misdemeanors” set out in the Constitution.

“This is an effort to overturn the result of one election and to try to interfere in the coming election, which begins today in Iowa,” White House Counsel Pat A. Cipollone said Monday.

Jay Sekulow, another attorney for Mr. Trump, played a compilation of video clips showing congressional Democrats talking about their desire to impeach Mr. Trump well before the inquiry began last September.

“There’s nothing in the charges that could permit the removal of a duly elected president,” he said.

Friday’s vote to reject witnesses came after pleas from Democrats to call John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser.

Mr. Bolton’s upcoming book, called “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” reportedly details direct conversations with Mr. Trump about the freeze in military aid to Ukraine.

The New York Times reported Friday that an Oval Office conversation occurred in early May and was attended by Mr. Cipollone, who is leading Mr. Trump’s defense in the impeachment trial.

On Monday, Mr. Jeffries hinted that there could be further action by House Democrats to pursue the full picture of what happened.

“Whatever the outcome in this trial, we will remain vigilant in the House,” he said. “There are dedicated public servants who know the difference between right and wrong.”

Rep. Adam Schiff, DCalif., named the nearly two dozen staff members who helped assemble the House impeachment inquiry. Mr. Schiff, chair of the House

Intelligence Committee and leader of the prosecution, portrayed them as dedicated, nonpartisan public servants who have been subjected to “vicious false attacks” for their involvement in the inquiry.

The House staff are “brilliant, hardworking and patriotic, and they deserve better than the attacks they have been forced to suffer,” Mr. Schiff said.

Mr. Schiff, in giving the last of the closing remarks, seemed to speak directly to moderate Republicans who swung against voting for witnesses. One of those senators, Lamar Alexander, RTenn., acknowledged the

House had proven its case but believed Mr. Trump’s actions did not rise to the level of impeachable crimes.

History will not be kind to Mr. Trump, Mr. Schiff said, and senators should consider their vote as a consequential link to the president.

“If you find that the House has proved its case and still vote to acquit, your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel and for all of history,” Mr. Schiff said.

“But if you find the courage to stand up to him, to speak the awful truth to his rank falsehood, your place will be among the Davids who took on Goliath,” he said.

He went on, “Every single vote — even a single vote by a single member — can change the course of history. … Is there one among you who will say: ‘Enough?’ ”

The House Democrats used about the full two hours allotted to each side, while the White House used about an hour.

The Senate adjourned and will reconvene to vote on the verdict at 4 p.m. Wednesday.