Former President Donald Trump will not testify at his Senate impeachment trial next week and will not submit a written statement, his lawyer said on Thursday after Democrats requested his presence.
A written statement was something that was being considered by Trump’s former legal team.
The principal impeachment manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., On Thursday requested that Trump testify under oath.
Bruce Castor, who is part of the team that represents Trump in his impeachment trial, said “no” when asked by NBC News whether Trump would testify. “It is a publicity stunt to compensate for the weakness of the case of Chamber administrators,” said Castor
Raskin replied that any officer accused of inciting violence against the government should be given a chance to testify. “His immediate refusal to testify speaks volumes and clearly establishes an adverse inference that supports his guilt,” said Raskin.
Trump was accused by the House of Representatives on January 13 in an article that accused him of “inciting insurrection” for his role in the violent riot by a pro-Trump crowd at the U.S. Capitol earlier that month.
The crux of Trump’s defense will focus on the argument that impeachment against him after he left office is unconstitutional – something that is up for grabs.
“If you take the House’s position to its logical conclusion, they could accuse Donald Trump and convict him if he were dead,” said Castor. “And that would be a ridiculous result. They could accuse Abraham Lincoln.”
Impeachment managers at the House of Democrats say Trump’s actions justify his disqualification from the federal post. They also argue that nothing in the constitution says that only current employees can be tried.
They wrote in a statement that the Constitution “clearly intended the impeachment process to reach ex-officials”, adding that the Senate discovered that it had the power to try ex-officials as early as 1798, in the case of former Senator William Blount.
In 1876, Congress impeached and then tried Ulysses S. Grant’s war secretary – William Belknap – who had resigned after discovering that he was about to undergo impeachment. He was tried anyway, but was acquitted after the Senate reached a majority, but failed to reach the required two-thirds limit.
Trump’s impeachment was the first time a president has been impeached twice. The Senate trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday.
Earlier this week, Trump’s lawyers filed petitions in the impeachment process that classified the trial as partisan and unconstitutional. His lawyers asked for a quick resignation.
On Thursday, Raskin asked Trump to testify at the trial. “In light of your contestation of these factual allegations, I write to invite you to testify under oath,” Raskin wrote in a letter to Trump.
Raskin in his letter noted that former presidents Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton “both testified during their term” and cited a 2020 Supreme Court decision that concluded that a president is not immune from criminal prosecution.
“So there is no doubt that you can testify in this process,” wrote Raskin.
The impeachment article accuses Trump of “inciting insurrection” for his role in the violent riot by a pro-Trump crowd on the United States Capitol that left several people dead and terrorized lawmakers as they tried to claim President Joe Biden’s victory.
The article also cites Trump’s January 2 call urging Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to override state election results as part of his effort “to subvert and obstruct certification of the results. of the 2020 presidential election. “
The Democratic-controlled House approved the article in a vote from 232 to 197; 10 Republicans took a stand against Trump. It was the most bipartisan vote in a presidential impeachment in history, doubling the five Democrats who voted for Clinton’s impeachment in 1998.
Castor said Trump’s allegations of electoral fraud – which were never substantiated and were called unfounded – will not be part of the defense.
“We are not planning to follow this path and I see no reason for that,” he said. “As far as I can tell, the case is a winner. And I’m not going to inject the problem into the case. This is injecting a problem into the case. “
And Biden’s plans during the impeachment trial are to get on with the job as if it wasn’t happening, according to White House officials.
Advisers are working out a busy agenda for the president, focused on the coronavirus pandemic and the economy, and meetings with state and local officials – all with the aim of showing that he is at work and undisturbed by the impeachment of his predecessor, officials said .
An official said that, from the White House perspective, the impeachment trial cannot end – and Congress cannot proceed – anytime soon.
Trump’s request to testify at the Senate trial was met with some consternation. Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va., said it would be a “dog and pony show”, and Senator Chris Coons, D-Del., A close ally of Biden, called it “a bad idea”.
Asked why it would be a terrible idea, Coons responded by asking, “Did you meet President Trump?”
Castor, a former Pennsylvania district attorney, said he expected the trial to end Friday or Sunday.
Castor noted that the other lawyer on Trump’s legal team, David Schoen, cannot work on Saturday because of his Jewish faith.
The Senate’s impeachment rules state that the trial runs from Monday to Saturday, without trial on Sundays. Changing that would have to be done through an agreement between the senators, who can change anything at the trial with all 100 senators in agreement.
Castor said Schoen will make the opening argument on behalf of the former president, while a lawyer yet to be appointed will likely take care of the middle part of the trial, and Castor hopes to deliver the team’s closing argument.
Asked if there would be any surprises at the trial, Castor said: “It will be exciting.”
Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner and Phil Helsel contributed.