Trump Legal Team Files Trial Memorandum Ahead of Second Impeachment Trial
WASHINGTON, D.C. — One day before the Senate trial is set to start, former President Trump’s legal team filed its trial memorandum for Trump’s second impeachment.
In the brief, Trump’s legal team again argued that the latest impeachment by the U.S. House was unconstitutional because he is no longer in office. The memorandum blamed “Democrats’ fevered hatred for Citizen Trump” for the impeachment, writing that, “In bringing this impeachment in the manner in which they did, namely via a process that violated every precedent and every principle of fairness followed in impeachment inquiries for more than 150 years, they offered the public a master’s class in the art of political opportunism.” Their argument conveniently glossed over precedent set during a previous impeachment trial in 1876, when the Senate voted that a private citizen could still be impeached for actions they committed while in office.
The brief went on to argue that the “House Managers’ compulsion to obfuscate the truth [was] borne out of an absence of evidence.” Despite this call for more evidence, last week Trump refused to answer questions in front of the House Impeachment Managers before or during the trial. The argument went on to bash Democratic leadership, the media and historical precedent. Finally, the memorandum hammered on a free speech argument, saying that Trump’s words were protected political speech.
The impeachment trial in the Senate starts tomorrow, Feb. 9 at 1:00 p.m. ET.