Rep. Adam Schiff to senators on Pres. Trump: 'I do not ask you to convict him because truth or right or decency matters nothing to him, but because we have proven our case and it matters to you.' 'You are decent. He is not who you are.'
to reject calling any new witnesses -- a critical defeat for Democrats. Only GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Mitt Romney voted to hear witnesses -- while two other other Republicans Democrats were hoping would join them -- Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Lamar Alexander -- voted no.
In this screengrab taken from a Senate Television webcast, House manager Rep. Adam Schiff speaks during impeachment proceedings against U.S. President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 3, 2020, in Washington, DC. "Trump could offer Alaska to the Russians in exchange for support in the next election, or decide to move to Mar-a-Lago permanently and let Jared Kushner run the country, delegating to him the decision whether to go to war. Because those things are not necessarily criminal, this argument would allow that he could not be impeached for such abuses of power. Of course this would be absurd. more than absurd it would be dangerous," Schiff says.
"I think we all know that not because it will be written by Never Trumpers but because whenever we have departed from the values of our nation we have come to regret it and that regret is written all over the pages of our history if you find that the House has proved its case and still vote to acquit your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel and for all of history, but if you find the courage to stand up to him to speak the awful truth to his rank falsehood, your place will be...
Responding to Trump's legal team closing arguments, House managers argue that the president will continue this behavior, noting that he"has not apologized" or offered to change in any way. He plays a series of video clip featuring Democrats foreshadowing an effort to remove Trump through impeachment since before the president’s inauguration.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone then returns to the lectern and expresses “gratitude” to the Chief Justice, the Senate leaders and senators on both sides of the aisle, as well as his defense team.“At the end of the day we put our faith in the Senate,” he said, predicting the senators will let the voters decide this fall whether Trump should stay in office. “At the end of the day, that is the only result.”“Reject these articles of impeachment,” Cipollone says.
Philbin then says that a lack of a vote meant there was “no lawful authorization for the beginning of the process.” He then criticized the House for jumping “straight to impeachment” rather than proceeding in the courts, contending that by moving to the “nuclear bomb” of its power, the House was akin to a parliamentary system where impeachment is effectively a vote of no confidence.
"Finally, does what is before this court, very energetically described by the able House managers, but fairly viewed, rise to a level of high crime or misdemeanor? One so grave and so serious to bring about the profound disruption of the Article II branch? The disruption of the government?" Starr asks.
Starr asserts that the House rushed to judgment as it crafted the two articles of impeachment, contending it didn’t have time to follow the rules or generate bipartisan support for its case in Congress or throughout the country. Schiff quotes from the late Rep. Elijah Cummings from the day the House announced its impeachment inquiry, saying, “’As elected representatives,’ he said, ‘of the American people, we speak not only for those who are here with us but of generations yet unborn. Our voices today are messages to a future we may never see. When the history books are written about this tumultuous era, I want them to show that I was among those in the House of Representatives who stood up to lawlessness and tyranny.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks during closing arguments during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, Feb. 3, 2020, at the Capitol.Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announces the Senate will take a 30-minute break after Democrats finish the first part of their closing arguments, taking about an hour and reserving the rest for rebuttal.
Jeffries says Trump is a"clear and present danger to our national security" and that condoning his behavior could damage U.S. relationships with other countries around the world.ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent reports from inside the Senate chamber:There is a lot of activity, but not a lot of close attention being paid. Senators are shuffling papers, working on unrelated matters, reading or, in a few cases, napping.
"My guess would be maybe a couple, at least on the obstruction of Congress article, and maybe on both," Braun says. As members filed into the chamber for closing arguments, Democrats said President Trump will further divide Congress if he fails to apologetically address his alleged wrongdoing in his State of the Union address tomorrow evening.
House Manager Rep. Jason Crow delivers his closing argument during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, Feb. 3, 2020, at the Capitol.Rep. Jason Crow starts off the House managers closing arguments in favor of convicting President Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of justice. The 3 ½ hour speech – ironically, though – is believed by some to have been his demise in abolition-minded New England – because Webster argued for the Compromise of 1850 which would keep slavery where it was already legal and not to worry about extending it to the West.
"As I stand here today delivering the House's closing argument, President Trump's constitutional crimes, his crimes against the American people and the nation, remain in progress," she says, before reviewing some of the details of the Democrats' case against Trump.
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