On Wednesday, House Democrats began laying out their case to the Senate that impeached President Donald Trump should be removed from office if convicted.
In his opening statements, Schiff said that if Trump isn’t removed, future presidents will be emboldened to seek foreign aid to win elections. Schiff also recounted Trump’s decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine unless officials said they would investigate the Bidens.
“President Trump solicited foreign interference in our democratic elections, abusing the power of his office to seek help from abroad to improve his re-election prospects at home.”
“And when he was caught, he used the powers of that office to obstruct
Trump, meanwhile, spoke to reporters in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum and seemingly bragged that his team is withholding documents from the Democrats. Trump said, “I got to watch enough – I thought our team did a very good job. But honestly, we have all the material. They don’t have the material.”
In another development, Democrat Chuck Schumer said the talked-about witness trade of former national security advisor John Bolton for Hunter Biden was “off the table.” (CNBC)
Hot Takes:
- This is just the beginning of the trial that will likely last at least into next week.
- The Republicans are reportedly adapting their defense to address issues the Democrats have brought up in their opening statements.
- Congresswoman Val Demings noted in a tweet that the second article of impeachment was for obstruction of Congress and Trump confessed to it in his comments on Wednesday.
The second article of impeachment was for obstruction of Congress: covering up witnesses and documents from the American people.
This morning the President not only confessed to it, he bragged about it:
“Honestly, we have all the material. They don’t have the material.”