House Democrats responded to arguments from President Donald Trump’s legal team in a new brief Tuesday.
The seven House impeachment managers who’ll present the lower chamber’s argument in the Senate described the President’s team’s briefing as raising “baseless objections.” They also said Trump didn’t appear eager to defend his actions.
“It is clear from his response that President Trump would rather discuss anything other than what he actually did,” the brief read.
Trump’s legal team, led by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, opened a lengthy brief on impeachment Monday by asserting that “abuse of power,” the first charge levied against Trump, was “a made-up theory that would permanently weaken the Presidency.”
But Democrats pointed out that even the Republicans’ legal analyst of choice, Jonathan Turley, disagreed. In congressional testimony, Turley argued that the “other high crimes and misdemeanors” listed in the Constitution apply to impeachable acts “even if they are not technically criminal acts.”
The Democrats’ brief took further issue with Trump’s team’s claim that barring witnesses from testifying was a “legitimate prerogative” of the Executive Branch.
“His across-the-board refusal to provide Congress with information and his assertion that his own lawyers are the sole judges of Presidential privilege undermines the constitutional authority of the people’s representatives and shifts power to an imperial president,” they wrote.
Much of the brief was similar to House impeachment managers’ earlier brief, filed Saturday.
But with the impeachment kicking off in earnest Tuesday, the new document carried a little more punch than the legal salvos launched over the weekend.
“Indeed, on the eve of his impeachment trial, President Trump continues to insist that he has done nothing wrong,” the brief read. “President Trump’s view that he cannot be held accountable, except in an election he seeks to fix in his favor, underscores the need for the Senate to exercise its solemn constitutional duty to remove President Trump from office.”
Read Democrats’ brief below:
Well, looks like it’s going to take more more time while allotting the same amount of time.
An hour in and already a GOP shitshow.
They need to get on with putting all Senators on record as to witnesses and other evidence. They should invoke Watergate. The Supreme Court ruled that the tapes had to be released. This is no different!
Way OT, but Public Health Seattle daughter informs me that the Chinese Wuhan coronavirus is now in WA. And us without a fully functional CDC. This is going to be a very difficult control scenario.
It’s easy to be perfunctory and concise when you don’t have a bona fide defense to articulate; when you have nothing substantial to say.