Opening arguments begin in Trump Senate impeachment trial
The lead Democratic prosecutor accused U.S. President Donald Trump at his impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday of setting up a corrupt scheme to pressure Ukraine to help him win re-election next November.
In the opening argument for the prosecution, Representative Adam Schiff said Trump had pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former vice-president Joe Biden and his son on unsubstantiated corruption charges.
«President Trump solicited foreign interference in our democratic elections, abusing the power of his office to seek help from abroad to improve his re-election prospects at home,» Schiff said, laying out the basic Democratic argument for why Trump should be found guilty and removed from office.
«To implement this corrupt scheme President Trump pressured the president of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into two discredited allegations that would benefit President Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign,» Schiff said.
Democrats argue that Trump was trying to find dirt on Biden, a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, and his son Hunter who had served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, to help the Republican president win a second term.
Watch Schiff lay out some of what Democrats will present during the trial.
The president denies any wrongdoing.
Rep. Val Demings, one of the House Democrats’ prosecution team of «managers,» tweeted that Trump was bragging today to reporters in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum about how his team was winning.
The second article of impeachment was for obstruction of Congress: covering up witnesses and documents from the American people.<br><br>This morning the President not only confessed to it, he bragged about it:<br> <br>»Honestly, we have all the material. They don’t have the material.» <a href=»https://t.co/DPAEFHIDjS»>pic.twitter.com/DPAEFHIDjS</a>
—@RepValDemings
The trial, the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history, resumed at 1 p.m. ET. On Tuesday — effectively the trial’s opening day — Democrats argued that more witnesses and records were needed since the Trump administration had not complied with requests for documents and urged officials not to participate.
Arguments became so heated that Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial, admonished both the defence and prosecution.
Schiff, who is leading the team of «managers,» said the evidence against Trump was «already overwhelming» but further witness testimony was necessary to show the full scope of the misconduct by the president and those around him.
Trump is almost certain to be acquitted by the Republican-controlled 100-member chamber, where a two-thirds majority is needed to remove him from office. But the trial’s effect on Trump’s November re-election bid is unclear.
Justice tells senators to ‘remember where they are’
Republican senators have not ruled out the possibility of further testimony and evidence at some point later in the trial, but they held firm with Trump to block Democratic requests for witnesses and evidence.
«They insist that the president has done nothing wrong, but they refuse to allow the evidence and hearing from the witnesses … and they lie, and lie and lie and lie,» Rep. Jerrold Nadler, another Democratic impeachment manager, said of Trump’s lawyers in remarks to the Senate.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone fired back.
«Mr. Nadler, you owe an apology to the president of the United States and his family,» Cipollone said. «You owe an apology to the Senate. But most of all you owe an apology to the American people.»
That back-and-forth led Roberts to admonish both men. «I do think those addressing the Senate should remember where they are,» he said.
