Democrats begin to make case at impeachment trial to remove Trump

WASHINGTON — Democrats used detail and narrative Wednesday to make their case that President Donald Trump solicited foreign interference to boost his re-election bid, obstructed a congressional investigation and should be removed from office by the Senate.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the lead House impeachment manager, said Democrats would show a scheme was executed in the White House and “that the Constitution demands the removal of Donald J. Trump from his office as president of the United States.”

“But that will be for you to decide, with the weight of history upon you, and, as President Kennedy once said, ‘a good conscience your only sure reward,’ ” Schiff said.

House Democrats have 24 hours over three days to lay out their case to senators who serve as a jury to weigh the impeachment articles of abuse of office and obstruction, which were approved by the lower legislative chamber.

Trump’s legal team is expected to present its case as early as Saturday. In filings with the Senate, the president’s lawyers said there was no wrongdoing, and they charged the House with a perversion of constitutional authority.

The president’s legal team refrained from filing a motion to dismiss the charges, lacking sufficient GOP votes for passage.

“No motions were filed,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

But Republicans have largely supported Trump as the trial has unfolded. And he remains confident he will be acquitted by the Senate on the charges.

The Senate is divided 53-47. It takes 67 votes to remove a president in an impeachment.

Public divided on removal

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows the public is slightly more likely to say the Senate should convict and remove Trump from office than to say it should not, 45 percent to 40 percent. But a sizable percentage, 14 percent, say they don’t know enough to have an opinion.

One question there’s wide agreement on: Trump should allow top aides to appear as witnesses at the trial. About 7 in 10 said so, including majorities of Republicans and Democrats, according to the poll.

The president returns to Washington on Thursday. Asked during a news conference in Davos, Switzerland, if he was going to attend the trial, Trump said he should sit “in the front row and stare into their corrupt faces.”

Trump lashed out when asked about the impeachment trial and whether witnesses should be called to testify.

“It’s all a hoax. It’s a con job. Like Schiff — he’s a corrupt politician,” Trump said.

On the question of witnesses, Trump said he would let “the Senate decide.”

Outside the Capitol, 21 Republican state attorneys general held a news conference to announce they would file a “friend of the Senate” brief claiming Democrats are using impeachment as a weapon to undermine the cornerstone of the Constitution: the separation of powers.

‘Political dirty work’

Democrats laid out a timeline of evidence and detailed events that they said support their impeachment case and charges that Trump plotted to have Ukraine do his “political dirty work” to help his 2020 re-election chances.

The opening arguments began less than 12 hours after the Senate voted along party lines to pass a rule package in the dead of the night. The package delays a decision on whether to call witnesses until later.

Senators were clearly feeling the effects of the long night. Their answers to reporters’ questions were clipped.

“I haven’t heard anything new,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told reporters during a break.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., a Democratic presidential hopeful, praised Schiff for laying out the timeline and events that many senators have heard in such detail.

Democrats were hopeful that a large television audience would pressure Republicans to give in to demands for documents and witnesses to bolster their case.

Trump used an executive order to block Democrats from receiving documents from the executive branch, and he ordered officials not to comply with the House investigation. Schiff said the president’s orders were part of the obstruction, the most blatant “cover-up in history.”

“The president put his own interests above the nation’s interests,” Schiff said.

He said evidence and testimony to House committees showed Trump was a key player in a scheme to coerce Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to announce political investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and a theory that Ukraine tried to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The “favor” Trump asked of Zelenskiy was made during a July 25 telephone call as U.S. national security officials listened in, some alarmed about the political request that was far beyond policy goals. Trump also directed that nearly $400 million in congressionally approved military aid be withheld. The aid was eventually released without a Ukrainian investigation.

After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced Sept. 24 that the House would investigate a whistleblower’s description of the Trump call to Zelenskiy, the White House released a call record of the conversation.

The president then ordered executive branch officials not to cooperate with House investigators.

Still undecided over witnesses

Democrats want to hear from former national security adviser John Bolton, who refused to testify before the House but has since said he would appear in the Senate if under subpoena.

Some Republicans, and initially Trump, argued that Biden’s son Hunter, who served on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma while his father was vice president, should also testify.

A so-called Bolton-Biden trade was reportedly being brokered by Democratic and Republican senators but shot down by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who told reporters that a trade “is not on the table.”

Trump has threatened to invoke executive privilege to block Bolton from testifying.

Democrats also want testimony from acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney; Robert Blair, a national security adviser; and Michael Duffy, an official with the Office of Management and Budget who directed the Pentagon to withhold the military aid.

A vote on the witnesses is expected after the House and Trump legal team present their arguments, followed by questions and answers from senators, to determine if more evidence or testimony is warranted.

McConnell said the timeline for a vote on witnesses follows the precedent of the impeachment trial for President Bill Clinton. Democrats, however, warn that Republicans are trying to end the trial quickly.

At least four Republican lawmakers would need to break ranks and join Democrats to provide a majority to force witness testimony. Several GOP senators said they remain open to that possibility, including Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

Romney told reporters Wednesday he was prepared to listen to the evidence and decide after presentations are completed.

This is only the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history. The Senate acquitted President Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Clinton in 1999.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.