President Donald Trump’s legal team presents the second day of its defense on Monday in the Senate impeachment trial after the Democratic House managers laid out their case last week charging the president with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The president’s lawyers opened their case on Saturday, in a two-hour presentation that contrasted with the lengthy arguments from the Democratic panel, which used all of the 24 hours each side was given to use over three days. White House counsel Pat Cipollone promised weary senators that their team would “finish efficiently and quickly.”
News of Bolton book renews demands he testify
Democrats ratcheted up their demands that former national security adviser John Bolton testify in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump after The New York Times published a report Sunday that said Trump told Bolton he wished to withhold military aid in order to pressure Ukraine into helping with politically motivated investigations.
In his upcoming book, Bolton writes that Trump directly and explicitly told him in August that he wished to withhold the $391 in military aid to Ukraine that Congress had appropriated until officials there turned over documents related to the 2016 election and former Vice President Joe Biden, the Times reported, citing people who had seen the manuscript.
Trump’s impeachment trial on articles of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress is centered on that withholding of aid and his refusal to allow current and former officials, such as Bolton, to testify in the impeachment inquiry.
Trump says two hours was plenty
Trump said in a tweet Sunday he thought two hours was all his legal team had needed to take apart the Democrats’ case against him.
“The Impeachment Hoax is a massive election interference the likes of which has never been seen before. In just two hours the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats have seen their phony case absolutely shredded,” the president said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., agreed.
Graham told Fox News that he thought “the House managers were articulate” and had”created a compelling narrative.”
“But what happened yesterday, in two hours, the president’s defense team destroyed the narrative created in 21 hours regarding process and substance,” he said.
Dershowitz says Dems failed to make case for impeachment
The impeachment managers argued that Trump had abused his power by using military aid to pressure Ukraine into conducting investigations that he thought would benefit him politically ahead of the 2020 election. They also said Trump obstructed their investigation by refusing to allow top administration officials to testify or handing over documents requested by House committees in the impeachment inquiry.
Attorney Alan Dershowitz, who is a member of Trump’s legal team, said on “Fox News Sunday” that, “they presented the strongest case they could present on their facts, but they didn’t come close to alleging impeachable offenses.”
Dershowitz has argued that a president must commit a crime to be impeached and removed from office, a position that has been disputed by many constitutional legal experts – including Dershowitz himself during the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton.
But that argument aside, Dershowitz said the defense team on Monday will show that the allegations against Trump are not true and that the House managers presented the facts “incompletely.”
“Remember, there are three things that the Senate has to decide. One, is there sufficient evidence of what they claim?” he said. “Does it constitute, first of all, an abuse of power? And third, does abuse of power constitute impeachable offenses?”
Dems accuse the president of threatening Schiff
In another tweet, Trump tore into House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment manager.
“Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very sick man. He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!” Trump said.
Schiff said he thought Trump “intended” the tweet as a threat and his fellow impeachment managers agreed.
“I would just say to the American people, this is totally inappropriate. It is totally a threat, if you will, against the process of this investigation and of this trial,” Rep. Val Demmings, D-Fla., said Sunday when asked about the tweet on MSNBC.
“We are defenders of the Constitution,” Demings said, vowing the impeachment managers would do their job “regardless of what inappropriate comments” or “threats that come out of the president.”
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham told Fox News that Schiff’s characterization of the tweet as a threat was “ridiculous” and that she believed Trump meant Schiff would pay a price with voters.
Contributing: Deirdre Shesgreen
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