Final arguments in Senate
Final arguments in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial unfolded Monday more for history than to sway votes, a last chance to influence public opinion and get on the record ahead of an expected acquittal Wednesday in the GOP-led Senate.
WASHINGTON – Closing arguments Monday in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial were directed more toward history than to sway the outcome, one final chance to influence public opinion and set the record ahead of his expected acquittal in the Republican-led Senate.
The House prosecutors drew on the Founding Fathers and common sense to urge senators – and Americans – to see that Trump’s actions were not isolated but a pattern of behavior that, left unchecked, would allow him to “cheat”’ in the 2020 election.
Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff implored those few Republican senators who have acknowledged Trump’s wrongdoing in the Ukraine matter to prevent a “runaway presidency” and stand up to say “enough.”
“For a man like Donald J. Trump, they gave you a remedy and meant for you to use it,” Schiff said. “We have proven Donald Trump guilty. Now do impartial justice and convict him.”
The president’s defense countered that Democrats have been out to impeach Trump since the start of his presidency, nothing short of an effort to undo the 2016 election and to try to shape the next one, as primary voting began Monday in Iowa.
“Leave it to the voters to choose,” said White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
He called for an end to the partisan “era of impeachment.”
All that’s left, as the Senate prepares to vote Wednesday on whether Trump abused power and obstructed Congress, is for Americans to decide now and in the November election where they stand, as the third presidential impeachment trial in the nation’s history comes to a close.
Most senators acknowledge the House case managers essentially have proved their case. Trump was impeached in December on two charges: that he abused his power like no other president in history when he pushed Ukraine to investigate rival Democrats, and he then obstructed Congress by instructing aides to defy House subpoenas.
But key Republicans have decided the president’s actions toward Ukraine do not rise to the level of an offense that warrants the political upheaval of conviction and removal from office. His acquittal in Wednesday’s vote is all but assured.
Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Marco Rubio of Florida and Rob Portman of Ohio are among those who acknowledged the inappropriateness of Trump’s actions, but said they would not vote to hear more testimony or to convict.
The Senate proceedings are set against a sweeping political backstop, as voters in Iowa on Monday are choosing presidential Democratic primary candidates and Trump is poised to deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday.
One by one, the case managers spoke of right and wrong.
Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., a former police chief, argued that the president is not behaving like someone who is innocent.
“You will send a terrible message to the nation that one can get away with abuse of power, cheating and spreading of false narratives,” she told them.