[ad_1]
Donald Trump’s impeachment is an “unjust and unconstitutional witch hunt,” politically motivated and “divorced from the facts,” the hearing was told.
The former president’s attorney, Michael van der Veen, opened the fourth day of the Senate trial with a searing attack, claiming the proceedings did nothing to unify a divided America.
Trump is charged with “incitement to insurrection” for the violence last month when his supporters stormed the US Capitol. Five people died in the chaos and its aftermath.
Democratic House politicians, who serve as prosecutors, have been defending their conviction in the upper house this week.
Follow impeachment procedures live. Warning: may contain graphic content
Michael van der Veen launched a searing attack on the Democrats
Today it was the defense team’s turn to present the Trump case.
Van der Veen said: “The impeachment article is an unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political revenge.
“This appalling abuse of the constitution only further divides our nation when we should be trying to unite.
“Like every other politically motivated witch hunt the left has undertaken for the past four years, it is completely divorced from the facts, the evidence, and the American people.”
Donald Trump accused of inciting his followers to riots
Such was the anger among Democrats over the assault on the Capitol building in early January that they voted to impeach Trump again, the first time a US president has been tried for the second time.
But van der Veen said the audience was not about Democrats who oppose political violence, but about Democrats who “try to disqualify their political opposition.”
And he added: “It is constitutional to cancel culture.”
He said Trump’s protest speech before the Jan. 6 Capitol uprising had focused simply on contesting the election result, the same as the Democrats did when they won in 2016.
“Litigating issues of electoral integrity is not an incitement to insurrection, it is the democratic system working as designed by the founders and legislators.”
He said that claiming that the former president “desired or encouraged the violation of the law” was an “absurd and monstrous lie.”
Five people died in the chaos of the Capitol uprising and its aftermath, and now the building is fenced off. Image: Associated Press
And he showed the audience a tweet from Trump on January 6 that read, “Please support our Capitol Police and law enforcement.”
“They really are on the side of our country. Keep your peace!”
He argued that the extremists had planned in advance the attack on the Capitol and that “you cannot incite what was always going to happen.”
And he highlighted the first amendment to the US Constitution, the freedom of speech amendment, claiming that the “sham impeachment” posed a “serious threat” to the freedom of expression of political leaders.
“The Senate must be careful about the precedent this will set,” he added.
Five people died in the chaos of the Capitol uprising and its aftermath
He claimed that the phrase Trump used in his rally: “If you don’t fight like hell, you won’t have one more country” was “ordinary political rhetoric that has been used by people across the political spectrum for hundreds of years.”
The first attempt to impeach Trump in January 2020, for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, acquitted him by a majority of 52 to 48 votes for one charge and 53 to 47 for the second. Only one Republican voted against him on one of the charges.
Trump has made it clear that he intends to run for president again in 2024 Photo: Associated Press
What is at stake this time is not whether Trump remains in office as president, he has now left the White House. But, such is the fury over his four years in power, Democrats want to make sure he is barred from running again for federal office.
Yet Democrats face a difficult task in securing a conviction and barring Trump from taking office given his continued popularity with many Republican voters.
If every senator votes, then at least 17 Republicans would have to turn against their former president to reach the required threshold of 67 votes for impeachment to be successful.
