Former President Donald Trump’s legal team accused House Democrats of “playing games” in their attempt to get him to testify at next week’s Senate impeachment trial.
House impeachment managers wrote to them on Thursday inviting Trump to appear in person and be questioned about what those Democrats contend was his role in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
In their response, Bruce Castor and David Schoen dismissed it as a “PR stunt” but without closing the door on the possibility.
“Your letter only confirms what is known to everyone: you cannot prove your allegations against the 45th president of the United States, who is now a private citizen,” they write. “The use of our Constitution to bring a purported impeachment proceeding is much too serious to try to play these games.”
Earlier in the day, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the lead impeachment manager, invited Trump to give evidence.
“Two days ago, you filed an answer in which you denied many factual allegations set forth in the article of impeachment. You have thus attempted to put critical facts at issue notwithstanding the clear and overwhelming evidence of your constitutional offense,” he wrote in a letter.
The Democratic-held House voted last month to impeach Trump for a second time on a single article of impeachment, accusing him of inciting an insurrection.
House Democratic impeachment managers contend that the former president’s repeated refusal to concede the election created the conditions for the deadly attack. Then, Trump’s calls to “fight like hell,” delivered during a rally in Washington the same day, turned the event “into a powder keg waiting to blow,” says their 80-page legal brief.
Trump’s lawyers have so far indicated that they plan to argue that it is unconstitutional to try a president who has left office and that his actions in addressing a crowd on Jan. 6 amounted to a reasonable exercise of his free speech.
But some supporters of the 45th president are urging him to run a more combative defense, reheating his election fraud claims and turning the trial into a battle for the soul of the Republican Party.
Earlier, Jason Miller, part of Trump’s team, told Newsmax that he did not expect the former president to testify. But, he added, he would “knock this thing out in about 15 minutes” if he chose to do so.
