Donald Trump impeachment news: Trump's lawyers claim Democrats want to 'overturn' last election result as defence kicks off

Democrats accused of trying to 'overturn' Trump's election result as defence starts
AP
Rebecca Speare-Cole25 January 2020

President Donald Trump's lawyers have accused the Democrats of striving to overturn the results of the 2016 election as his defence kicked off.

Mr Trump's lawyers opened their impeachment trial defence in a rare Saturday session by saying the Democrats' investigations into his dealings with Ukraine were not a fact-finding mission.

Instead they claimed it was a politically motivated effort to drive him from the White House.

"They're here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history," White House Counsel Pat Cipollone told senators. "And we can't allow that to happen."

White House Counsel Pat Cipollone speaks during impeachment proceedings
Senate Television via Getty Imag

The Trump legal team's arguments were aimed at rebutting allegations that the president abused his power when he asked Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and then obstructed Congress as it tried to investigate.

Mr Trump is mounting a wide-ranging, aggressive defence asserting an expansive view of presidential powers.

It aims to paint a picture of the president being besieged by political opponents determined to ensure that he will not be re-elected this November.

Mr Cipollone said: "They're asking you not only to overturn the results of the last election, but as I've said before, they're asking you to remove President Trump from an election that's occurring in approximately nine months.

House Impeachment Managers Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Val Demings (D-FL), Jason Crow (D-CO) and Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) arrive at the Senate Chamber
REUTERS

"They're asking you to tear up all the ballots across this country on their own initiative."

From the White House, Mr Trump added name-calling, tweeting that his team was making his case "against lyin', cheatin', liddle' Adam "Shifty" Schiff, Cryin' Chuck Schumer, Nervous Nancy Pelosi" and others of "the Radical Left."

The president's lawyers were making only a truncated argument on Saturday before resuming on Monday.

The attorneys are responding to two articles of impeachment approved last month by the House - one that accuses him of encouraging Ukraine to investigate Mr Biden at the same time the administration withheld military aid from the country.

The other accuses him of obstructing Congress by directing aides not to testify or produce documents.

A 2018 recording of the president has been unearthed
Getty Images

Mr Trump's defence team took center stage following three days of methodical and passionate arguments from Democrats, who wrapped up on Friday by warning that Mr Trump will persist in abusing his power.

They claimed he would endanger American democracy unless Congress intervenes to remove him before the 2020 election.

They also implored Republicans to allow new testimony to be heard before senators render a final verdict.

Representatives vote in the US Senate Chamber
REUTERS

"Give America a fair trial," said Adam Schiff, the lead Democratic impeachment manager. "She's worth it."

The defence team accused House impeachment managers of omitting evidence favorable to Mr Trump and painting in a nefarious light actions that the president was legitimately empowered to take.

They argued that there was no evidence that Mr Trump made the security aid contingent on Ukraine announcing an investigation into the Bidens and that Ukraine didn't even know that the money had been paused until shortly before it was released.

"Most of the Democratic witnesses have never spoken to the president at all, let alone about Ukraine security assistance," said deputy White House Counsel Michael Purpura.

Mr Pupura told the senators the other main reason for the July 25 call in which Trump asked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the Biden investigation was in line with the president's concerns about corruption.

Adam Schiff speaks during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump
AP

But Mr Trump never mentioned that word, according to the rough transcript released by the White House.

Mr Pupura said everyone knows that when Mr Trump asked Mr Zelenskiy to "do us a favor," he meant the US, not himself.

Defence lawyers say Mr Trump was a victim not only of Democratic rage but also of overzealous agents and prosecutors.

The lawyers probably will cite mistakes made by the FBI in its surveillance of a former Trump campaign aide in the now-concluded Trump-Russia election investigation.

In response to allegations that he invited foreign interference, they already have argued that it was no different from Hillary Clinton's campaign's use of a former British spy to gather opposition research on Mr Trump in 2016.

Acquittal was likely, given that Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and a two-thirds vote would be required for conviction.

Mr Trump, with his eyes on the audience beyond the Senate chamber, bemoaned the trial schedule in a tweet, saying it "looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in TV."

The Senate is heading next week toward a pivotal vote on Democratic demands for testimony from top Trump aides, including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton, who refused to appear before the House.