The House impeachment managers accused former President Donald Trump of “the most grievous constitutional crime ever committed by a President” in their final brief before Trump’s Senate impeachment trial begins in earnest Tuesday.
Their brief – technically a reply to the Trump team’s answer to the article of impeachment – follows the submission by Trump’s lawyers of their full pre-trial brief earlier Monday.
The House managers in their brief most prominently counter the two main defenses that Trump’s legal team has put forth – that the Senate cannot constitutionally hold an impeachment trial for a former president and that Trump’s conduct was protected by the First Amendment.
The impeachment managers generally fall back on arguments they made in their full pre-trial brief submitted last week on the issue of whether the Senate has jurisdiction to try an impeachment of a former president.
“The Framers’ intent, the text of the Constitution, and prior Congressional practice all confirm that President Trump must stand trial for his constitutional crimes committed in office,” the brief reads. “There is no ‘January Exception’ to the Constitution that allows Presidents to abuse power in their final days without accountability.” – READ MORE
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