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Democrats in impeachment trial say Trump abused his power in attempt to sully rival Biden

Published 01/23/2020, 08:53 PM
Updated 01/23/2020, 08:53 PM
© Reuters. Lead manager House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff speaks at impeachment trial at the U.S. Capitol in Washington

© Reuters. Lead manager House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff speaks at impeachment trial at the U.S. Capitol in Washington

By David Morgan, Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats worked methodically at U.S. President Donald Trump's impeachment trial on Thursday to dismantle his long-standing allegation that Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden acted improperly toward Ukraine while vice president.

On the second day of their arguments for Trump's removal from office, Democratic House of Representatives members argued that Biden did nothing wrong and was only carrying out official U.S. policy when he pressured Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor, Victor Shokin, because of corruption concerns.

Trump and his allies maintain that Biden wanted Shokin out in order to head off an investigation into a natural gas company, Burisma, where his son Hunter served as a director. Democrats said no evidence supported that allegation.

House managers spent Thursday focusing on the charge that Trump abused his office by pressing Ukraine to investigate the Bidens purely for political gain.

They argued that Trump pushed the Ukrainian government to probe Biden and his son because he was worried about facing the former vice president in November's election. Biden is the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"If we allow this gross abuse of power to continue, this president would have free rein – free rein – to abuse his control of U.S. foreign policy for personal interest, and so would any other future president," U.S. Representative Sylvia Garcia said on the Senate floor. "And then this president, and all presidents, become above the law."

Democrats contend senators should convict Trump on two charges brought by the Democratic-led House - abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

But the Senate, which is controlled by Trump's fellow Republicans, remains unlikely to do so. A two-thirds majority is needed to remove him from office.

The U.S. Constitution sets out the impeachment process for removing a president who commits "high crimes and misdemeanors." Trump's legal team has argued that the House charges were invalid because impeachable offenses must represent a specific violation of criminal law.

Trump condemned the proceedings as "unfair & corrupt" in a Twitter post on Thursday.

The charges against Trump arise from his request in a July 25 phone call last year that Ukraine investigate Biden on unsubstantiated corruption allegations and the president's actions to impede a House inquiry into the matter.

Trump also asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate a discredited theory beneficial to Russia that Ukraine worked with Democrats to hurt Trump in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump temporarily withheld $391 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine, which Democrats say was leverage for his demands.

'OPENED THE DOOR'

Trump's lawyers quickly argued that by bringing up the Bidens, Democrats had made their conduct a relevant subject for the rest of the trial.

"They opened the door. They opened the door and it's now relevant," Jay Sekulow, a personal lawyer for the president and a member of his defense team, told reporters at the Capitol. "So we will address the appropriate issues as defense lawyers would."

Added Republican Senator Ted Cruz: "Hunter Biden is not only relevant, he is now critical."

But Sekulow said Trump's team was not yet focused on whether new witnesses will be called, a matter the Senate will take up after senators have a chance to submit questions to both sides next week.

Trump's lawyers are likely to begin their defense of the president on Saturday, after House Democrats finish their opening arguments.

Democratic Representative Adam Schiff said House managers on Friday would focus on the charge that Trump unlawfully obstructed Congress by keeping key administration officials from testifying and by refusing requests for documents.

As the arguments again went deep into the evening, Republican senators continued to complain the House presentation had become repetitive and that they were looking forward to the president's defense.

Democrats countered by saying Republicans had blocked their attempts to bring new evidence to light through additional witnesses and documents.

Signs emerged on the second day of arguments that the Democratic case was losing some of the public's attention. There were empty seats in the gallery overlooking the Senate floor.

Television ratings were down. About 8.9 million viewers watched the first day of arguments on Wednesday, falling short of the roughly 11 million who watched on Tuesday, according to Nielsen ratings data.

Senators also showed increasing signs of restlessness, with many wandering to the rear of the chamber where they could make phone calls and check their smartphones.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Garcia poured cold water on a conspiracy theory offered by some Trump defenders that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.

"If this sounds far-fetched and crazy, it should, because it is," the lawmaker said.

U.S. intelligence agencies and former Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded that Russia used a campaign of hacking and social media propaganda to interfere in the election to sow discord in the United States and boost Trump's candidacy against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Moscow has denied meddling in the election.

The Democrats displayed a November quote from Russian President Vladimir Putin saying: "Thank God nobody is accusing us anymore of interfering in the U.S. elections. Now they're accusing Ukraine."

© Reuters. Lead manager House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff speaks at impeachment trial at the U.S. Capitol in Washington

Latest comments

Now we see the x-veep had five members involved in odd deals... worth lotsa cash!
Now we hear the entire family got inside deals while Joe was VP and had the family meet with the big O. Did big O. know? Maybe... J.B. knew -
from what I've been watching the house has been getting roasted by the white house lawyers..
They have to persuade 19 Republicans and have absolutely no Democrat defectors. They may be able to get up to 4 never-Trumpers who already hated him, but not 19. Never going to happen.
We can only hope they are called out indicted , found guilty for lying to congress, senate US and US jailed for their lying, treasonous acts !Especially Bugsy...
Reuters is so bad. So far to the left.
Odd how only they and Bloomberg have news here.
liar schiff and his gang, have no case.Republicans were voted in to stand by our president, or will be voted out as traitors.
If they're voted out, it'd mean a "dem" is probably being voted in. I'd this occurs, we're through. You can see what Bugsy, Munchkin, Botoks N.P. are doing now. These scoundrels wil stop at nothing out seems. Notice they review this over and over. This is for those that form on only liberal tv stations. Those pt people are being lied to, mislead by the Swampees. They believe they're being told truth by these lib. stations...
democrats running scared. this is the only thing they have to stop trump
Don't forget, they have Bloomberg who has promised to back anyone who wins other than him. This makes him awd dangerous as George S. the fashisty guy.
Never ending obstruction. What can be done?
Tell your friends and those meet in idle conversation. Spread the word.
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