Impeachment trial: Trump lawyers say Democrats trying to overturn 2016 election
- Republican lawyers started their defence by saying Trump was a victim of Democratic rage and overzealous agents and prosecutors
- Acquittal appears likely as Republicans hold a Senate majority, but a poll found 45 per cent of Americans believe Trump should be removed from office
“They’re here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history,” White House Counsel Pat Cipollone told senators. “And we can’t allow that to happen.”
The Trump legal team’s arguments in the rare Saturday session were aimed at rebutting allegations that the president abused his power when he asked Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and then obstructed Congress as it tried to investigate.
The lawyers are mounting a wide-ranging, aggressive defence asserting an expansive view of presidential powers and portraying Trump as besieged by political opponents determined to ensure he will not be reelected this November.
“They’re asking you to tear up all the ballots across this country on their own initiative,” Cipollone said.