During opening arguments of the Senate’s impeachment trial on Wednesday, lead House manager Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said that, without impeachment, Americans would not be able to trust the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
“The House did not take this extraordinarily step lightly,” Schiff told the Senate of the decision to impeach President Donald Trump. “Impeachment exists for cases in which the conduct of the president rises beyond mere policy disputes to be decided otherwise, and without urgency at the ballot box.”
“The president’s misconduct cannot be decided at the ballot box, for we cannot be assured that the vote will be fairly won.”
— Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead House impeachment manager, during his opening statement to the U.S. Senate #ImpeachmentPBS pic.twitter.com/LaJux1Bh9I
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) January 22, 2020
Schiff then accused President Trump of “an attempt to use the powers of the presidency to cheat in an election” in the dealings with Ukrainian officials described in the House’s impeachment articles.
“For precisely this reason, the president’s misconduct cannot be decided at the ballot box, for we cannot be assured that the vote will be fairly won,” Schiff added. – READ MORE