President Trump’s legal team argued that the articles of impeachment passed by the House of Representatives are “an affront to the Constitution,” saying the Senate should “speedily reject” them.
“The only threat to the Constitution that House Democrats have brought to light is their own degradation of the impeachment process and trampling of the separation of powers. Their fixation on damaging the President has trivialized the momentous act of impeachment, debased the standards of impeachable conduct, and perverted the power of impeachment by turning it into a partisan, election-year political tool,” the brief reads.
“The diluted standard asserted here would permanently weaken the Presidency and forever alter the balance among the branches of government in a manner that offends the constitutional design established by the Founders,” it adds.
The 171-page brief, which was filed to the Senate, resembles the rhetoric found in a legal document Trump’s lawyers also submitted over the weekend that called the articles of impeachment “constitutionally invalid.” The president has been charged with “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress,” accusations Trump has repeatedly rejected.
