Radio Recap – Today in the Senate: Closing Arguments in the Impeachment Trial

Today, closing arguments from the House managers and the President’s legal team are finishing before the U.S. Senate.

On today’s Jay Sekulow Live we provided full analysis of this impeachment trial.

It was great to be back in the studio on Jay Sekulow Live after two weeks. This impeachment trial began on January 21st. That was the first day we spent in the U.S. Senate chamber. This will finish on Wednesday, February 5th. Today is the final day that the President’s legal team made their closing statements. On Friday, the Senate debated calling additional witnesses, voted against doing so, and set the rules for the rest of the trial.

On Friday, ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, acting in his private capacity as a member of President Trump’s legal team, said regarding witnesses:

Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the Senate, over a 7-day period you did hear evidence. You heard evidence from 13 different witnesses, 192 video clips, and as my colleague, the Deputy White House Counsel said, over 28,000 pages of documents.

You heard testimony from Gordon Sondland. He is the United States Ambassador to the European Union. You heard that testimony. He testified in the House proceedings. I did not have an opportunity to cross-examine him. If we get witnesses, I have to have that opportunity.

My father went on to name and describe the rest of the witnesses who were called by the House, and made the point that the President’s legal team would need to be allowed to cross-examine them too, if witnesses were called. He then made the point that this would be a very length process if witnesses were called:

There were other witnesses that were called where you saw their testimony or heard their testimony or it was referred to. Catherine Croft, Special Adviser for Ukraine negotiation, Department of State; Mark Sandy, the Deputy Associate Director for National Security Programs; and Christopher Anderson, Special Adviser for Ukraine Negotiations, Department of State--you heard their testimony referred to. We did not have the opportunity to cross-examine them.

So this isn't going to happen, if witnesses are called, in a week. Now, that is just the witnesses that have been produced that you have seen by the House managers.

You are being called upon to make consequential constitutional decisions—consequential decisions for our Constitution.

My father closed his remarks on Friday by making the following point:

I am not going to take the time – your time, which is precious – to go over each and every allegation about witnesses that I could. I could do it. I could stand here for a long time. I am not going to do that. I am just going to say this: They created the record. Do not allow them to penalize the country and the Constitution because they failed to do their job.

With that Mr. Chief Justice, we yield our time.

Ultimately, the Senate rejected the call for witnesses.

You can listen to the entire episode, with my first-hand analysis of the impeachment trial here.