Radio Recap – U.S. Senate on the Eve of Impeachment Trial

By 

Nathanael Bennett

|
January 20, 2020

3 min read

Public Policy

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We’re on the eve of the Senate impeachment trial. Over the weekend President Trump’s legal team filed their official response to the impeachment articles in the Senate.

On today’s Jay Sekulow Live, we discussed and read in detail that official response.

Here are some highlights directly from the legal team’s response:

THE HONORABLE DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, HEREBY RESPONDS:

The Articles of Impeachment submitted by House Democrats are a dangerous attack on the right of the American people to freely choose their President. This is a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election now just months away.

The highly partisan and reckless obsession with impeaching the President began the day he was inaugurated and continues to this day.

The Articles of Impeachment are constitutionally invalid on their face. They fail to allege any crime or violation of law whatsoever, let alone High Crimes and Misdemeanors, as required by the Constitution. They are the result of a lawless process that violated basic due process and fundamental fairness. Nothing in these Articles could permit even beginning to consider removing a duly elected President or warrant nullifying an election and subverting the will of the American people.

The Articles of Impeachment now before the Senate are an affront to the Constitution of the United States, our democratic institutions, and the American people.

The document continues:

President Trump categorically and unequivocally denies each and every allegation in both Articles of Impeachment. The President reserves all rights and all available defenses to the Articles of Impeachment. For the reasons set forth in this Answer and in the forthcoming Trial Brief, the Senate must reject the Articles of Impeachment.

The official response goes on to respond to the first article of impeachment. Here’s a portion of it:

The 1st Article also fails on the facts, because President Trump has not in any way abused the powers of the Presidency. At all times, the President has faithfully and effectively executed the duties of his Office on behalf of the American people. The President’s actions on the July 25, 2019, telephone call with President of Ukraine (the “July 25 call”), as well as on the earlier April 21, 2019, telephone call (the “April 21 call”), and in all surrounding and related events, were constitutional, perfectly legal, completely appropriate, and taken in furtherance of our national interest.

Here’s a portion of the response to the second article of impeachment:

The House may not usurp Executive Branch authority and may not bypass our Constitution’s system of checks and balances. Asserting valid constitutional privileges and immunities cannot be an impeachable offense. The second Article is therefore invalid and must be rejected.

You can listen to the entire episode, where I read the entire response filed by President Trump’s legal team, complete with analysis by myself, as well as ACLJ Senior Military Analyst Wes Smith and ACLJ Director of Policy Harry Hutchison, here.