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Lawyers for former US President Donald Trump rejected a request by Democrats to testify at his impeachment in the US Senate next week, dismissing his invitation as a “public relations stunt.”
Democrats in the House of Representatives accuse Trump of inciting insurrection when he urged his supporters to “fight” for their electoral defeat before storming the Capitol, fighting with the police and sending lawmakers to fight for safety.
Five people were killed, including a Capitol police officer.
“The president will not testify in an unconstitutional proceeding,” Trump adviser Jason Miller told Reuters. In an open letter, Trump’s attorneys, Bruce Castor and David Schoen, called the request a “public relations stunt.”
The attorneys this week rejected the impeachment charge, asserting that their unsubstantiated claims that his electoral defeat was the result of widespread fraud were protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Democratic lawmaker Jamie Raskin, the House’s top impeachment manager, wrote in a letter to Republican Trump and his attorney inviting the former president, who left office on January 20, to testify under oath.
“If you decline this invitation, we reserve any and all rights, including the right to establish at trial that your refusal to testify supports a strong adverse inference regarding your actions (and inaction) on January 6, 2021.” Raskin wrote.
In their response, Trump’s lawyers wrote to Raskin: “Your letter only confirms what everyone knows: You cannot prove your accusations against the 45th President of the United States, who is now a private citizen.”
Several senators said it would have been a bad idea for Trump to testify. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a vocal ally of Trump, told reporters, “I don’t think that’s in anybody’s interest.”
For two months after losing his re-election bid to President Joe Biden, Trump loudly argued that he lost due to rampant electoral fraud, claims that were rejected by multiple courts and state election officials.
Trump’s attorneys and most Republican senators have questioned the constitutionality of the trial. They have said that the Senate does not have the authority to hear the case because Trump has already left office and cannot be removed from office.
Such an argument would allow Republican senators, who hold half the seats in the chamber, to vote against Trump’s conviction on procedural grounds rather than directly supporting his comments.
A majority of two-thirds of the 100 members of the Senate would have to back the charge to convict Trump, which means 17 Republicans would have to join the 50 Democrats to endorse him.
The impeachment trial of Trump in the Senate, the first US president to face such a trial twice, will begin next week.
Trump’s first impeachment trial, on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after he appeared to pressure Ukraine’s president to investigate Biden and his son, resulted in an acquittal by the Senate, where Republicans held the majority. at the time and denied the Democrats’ attempts to present witnesses.
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