President Donald Trumps lawyer, in concluding his opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial, said that if the bar for impeachment is set too low, future presidents wont be able to exercise executive power, while addressing allegations reportedly contained in former national security adviser John Boltons book.
“Danger, danger, danger,” Jay Sekulow, Trumps personal attorney, said in front of the Senate. “I want to focus today, on my section, on what youre being asked to do. You are being asked to remove a duly-elected president of the United States and youre being asked to do it in an election year,” Sekulow said. “In an election year,” he asserted.
Whats more, the current case against Trump, if successful, would permanently damage the executive branchs power as future House majorities could dangle impeachment over future presidents heads.
“Future presidents—Democrats and Republicans—will be paralyzed the moment they are elected. Before they can even take the oath of office,” he said. “The bar for impeachment cannot be set this low.”
Impeachments cannot be done over policy disagreements or based on unsourced newspaper reports, Sekulow continued.
Sekulow said Trumps July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—a key component of the impeachment inquiry against the president—was more about foreign policy.
“You cannot impeach a president on an unsourced allegation,” he said, referring to an allegation that is reportedly contained in former national security adviser John Boltons forthcoming book. The New York Times, without quoting any excerpts from the book, reported on Sunday night that Bolton said he was told by Trump about a linkage between a freeze on military aid to Ukraine and investigations into political opponents. Trump has categorically denied the report.
On Monday, other members of Trumps defense team, which includes former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr, Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Trump attorney Eric Herschmann assisted in defending the president in front of the Senate. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) saidRead More – Source
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The Epoch Times
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