House Democrats mount preemptive strike on Trump's defense
The seven House impeachment managers seeking Trump’s removal from office know they are about to cede the floor to the president’s legal team — perhaps for three full days — as soon as Saturday. So the House managers spent all day Thursday trying to preempt and outflank them.
It was a clear strategic choice by House Democrats. Anticipating that Trump’s team would proclaim that the president had a genuine interest in fighting corruption in Ukraine — justifying his request that the country’s president announce an investigation of Biden — Democrats instead repeatedly used the words of Trump’s own advisers and allies to knock down the theory.
Senate Democrats lauded what they called a “masterful presentation” by the House impeachment managers — ones that were led on Thursday by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff , the lead manager, and Garcia. The House impeached Trump last month for allegedly pressuring Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden, as well as a debunked theory that Ukraine — not Russia — hacked and ultimately hid a Democratic Party server. Democrats emphasized that the theory that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 election was actually a brainchild of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who they noted cheered the fact that Trump and his allies gave credence to the claim.
Trump’s allies in the House and Senate said the Democratic arguments would do little to affect the trajectory of the trial, which has long seemed headed toward a party-line acquittal. And they said the White House’s defense would remain intact despite the Democratic effort to undercut their case.
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