Trump lawyers begin impeachment defense with offensive against Democrats
“We can talk about the process, we will talk about the law, but today we are going to confront them on the merits of their argument, how they have the burden of proof and they have not come close to meeting it,” said Cipollone, who stated explicitly that he and his team did not intend to utilize the full 24 hours allotted to them, as Democrats had, to make its case.
“For anyone to argue there’s a burden of proof but then say, ‘But, I’m sorry, we’re not going to let you call witnesses ... that is called a rigged trial,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley . “That is the kind of trial you would expect in Russia or China, but not here in the United States of America.” Sekulow asserted that Trump had good reason to believe that Ukraine had interfered in the 2016 presidential election on behalf of Democrat Hillary Clinton, repeating debunked Russian propaganda that FBI Director Christopher A. Wray has said is wholly without merit.
Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, in April 2014. At that time, Ukraine — and its fight against corruption — was in the former vice president’s portfolio. In the nearly six years since, no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the Bidens has emerged. Democrats approved a second article of impeachment for obstruction of Congress after the president blocked several witnesses from testifying during the House inquiry and refused to turn over documents that had been subpoenaed.
“If they couldn’t get Ukraine to do it,” he continued, referring to an investigation of the Bidens, “they want to use the trial to do it instead.”
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