President Trump’s lawyers on Monday offered a sweeping condemnation of the articles of impeachment against him.
Democrats built their impeachment case from that July 25 phone call transcript during which Trump urged Ukraine’s newly elected president to investigate his political rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden. The House Intelligence Committee also interviewed 17 witnesses, including some who described deep confusion and chaos inside the administration after Trump ordered the withholding of military aid to Ukraine.
But it appears that Trump’s team plans to sidestep the substance of Democrats’ case and focus instead on what they claim was a rushed investigation that offered no meaningful chance for Trump to participate. “The goal was to impeach the president, no matter the facts,” the president’s lawyers argued Monday.
Senators are expected to spend most of Tuesday jockeying over the rules of the trial, while the House is expected to present evidence and arguments beginning on Wednesday. The House’s seven prosecutors, Trump’s lawyers and the senators themselves are largely in the dark about how much time all of the speakers will have and when to expect floor votes on whether witnesses should even be considered.
“The diluted standard asserted here would permanently weaken the presidency and forever alter the balance among the branches of government in a manner that offends the constitutional design established by the Founders,” Trump’s brief said. The president’s response ignores large swaths of the House’s evidence, and all but omits the connection to personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, a central figure in the Ukraine episode who has been sidelined from any formal role in Trump’s defense on the Senate floor. The White House brief mentions Giuliani’s name just three times — though two are footnotes — compared to the 91 mentions in Saturday’s House brief.
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