In response to the White House arguing in a filing Saturday that the impeachment articles are “constitutionally invalid,” House impeachment managers wrote in a formal response Monday that President Trump made a “chilling assertion” by arguing that the Senate cannot remove him from office even if the House validates the articles of impeachment.
The nine-page response released Monday reiterates the House Democrats’ argument in a trial brief sent Saturday evening that Trump “jeopardized our national security and our democratic self-governance” and “used his Presidential powers to orchestrate a cover-up.”
“President Trump maintains that the Senate cannot remove him even if the House proves every claim in the Articles of impeachment. That is a chilling assertion. It is also dead wrong,” the impeachment managers wrote. “The Framers deliberately drafted a Constitution that allows the Senate to remove Presidents who, like President Trump, abuse their power to cheat in elections, betray our national security, and ignore checks and balances. That President Trump believes otherwise, and insists he is free to engage in such conduct again, only highlights the continuing threat he poses to the Nation if allowed to remain in office. ”
The response also took issue with Trump’s “stonewalling of the impeachment inquiry” and argued that “the Senate should require the President to turn over the documents he is hiding.”
“It should hear from witnesses, as it has done in every impeachment trial in American history; it especially should hear from witnesses the President blocked from testifying in the House,” the impeachment managers wrote.
The House Democrats’ response came shortly after Trump’s legal team urged the Senate to “swiftly and roundly condemn” the articles of impeachment that it characterized as “flimsy” in a brief filed to the Senate Monday.
Read the House Democrats’ response below:
