WASHINGTON (AP) – House Democrats on Thursday asked Donald Trump to testify under oath before his Senate impeachment trial, challenging the former president to explain why he and his lawyers are at the center of the case’s main factual allegations disputed.
House impeachment managers’ petition does not require Trump to appear – although the Senate could later subpoena him – but it does warn that any refusal to testify at trial could be used to support arguments for a conviction. Even if Trump never testifies, the petition nonetheless makes it clear that the Democrats are determined to file an aggressive case against him even though he has left the White House, and it challenges him to personally challenge the words of his lawyers. to lay.
A Trump adviser did not immediately return a message asking for comment on the managers’ letter.
The Senate impeachment trial begins on February 9. Trump is accused of inciting a crowd of his supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6. Democrats have said a process is needed to give a final measure of accountability. They also plan to disqualify him from seeking office again.
In the letter, the Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, one of the impeachment managers, that Trump would testify “before or during the Senate impeachment process” and under cross-examination of his conduct on January 6, just Monday. , February 8 and no later than Thursday February 11.
Raskin’s request quotes the words of Trump’s own lawyers, who in a legal letter earlier this week not only denied that Trump had incited the riot but also claimed that he had “ performed admirably in his role as president, at all at the time was doing what he thought was in the best interest of the American people. “
With that argument, Raskin said, Trump had questioned critical facts in the case “despite the clear and overwhelming evidence of your constitutional crime.”
“In light of your contestation of these factual allegations, I am writing to you to testify under oath, either before or at the Senate impeachment trial, regarding your conduct on January 6, 2021,” Raskin wrote.
Raskin wrote that if Trump refuses to testify, the managers will use his refusal against him in the trial – a similar argument advanced by House Democrats in last year’s impeachment proceedings, when many Trump officials ignored subpoenas.
“Indeed, while a sitting president might express concern about distraction from their official duties, that concern clearly does not apply here,” Raskin wrote.
Trump may reject the request to testify, and impeachment officials now do not have the authority to subpoena witnesses, as the House has already voted to impeach him. The Senate could vote to sue him or other witnesses by simple majority vote.