Former President Donald Trump will not testify in his impeachment trial in the Senate next week and will not submit a written statement, his attorney said Thursday after Democrats called for him to appear.
A written statement was something that had been taken into consideration by Trump’s former legal team.
Chief Deposition Manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Asked Trump earlier Thursday to testify under oath.
Bruce Castor, who is part of the team representing Trump in his impeachment trial, said “no” when NBC News asked if Trump would testify. “It is a publicity stunt to make up for the weakness of the House managers’ case,” said Castor.
Raskin replied that any official accused of inciting violence against the government should welcome the opportunity to testify. “His immediate refusal to testify speaks volumes and is clearly an unfavorable inference in support of his guilt,” Raskin said.
Trump was accused by the House of Representatives on Jan. 13 in an article accusing him of “inciting insurgency” for his role in the violent riot by a pro-Trump gang in the Capitol earlier that month.
The core of Trump’s defense will focus on the argument that it is unconstitutional to impeach him after leaving office – something that is up for debate.
“If you pull Parliament’s position to a logical conclusion, they can impeach Donald Trump and condemn him if he was dead,” Castor said. And that would be a ridiculous result. They could depose Abraham Lincoln. ”
The Democratic House impeachment managers say Trump’s actions warrant his disqualification from federal office. They also argue that nothing in the constitution says that only current officials can be tried.
They wrote in a short letter that the constitution “clearly intended the impeachment process to reach former officials,” adding that the Senate felt it had the power to try former officials as early as 1798, in the case of former Senator William Blount .
In 1876, Congress expelled and then tried Ulysses S. Grant’s Secretary of War – William Belknap – who had resigned after discovering he was about to be impeached. He was tried anyway, but was acquitted after the Senate reached a majority but failed to reach the required two-thirds threshold.
Trump’s impeachment marks the first time a president has been impeached twice. The Senate trial is expected to begin on Tuesday.
Earlier this week, Trump’s lawyers filed a letter in the impeachment lawsuit calling the trial partisan and unconstitutional. His lawyers have pushed for a quick dismissal.
On Thursday, Raskin had asked Trump to testify at the trial. “In light of your contestation of these factual charges, I am writing to you to testify under oath,” Raskin wrote in a letter to Trump.
Raskin noted in his letter that former Presidents Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton “both gave testimony during their tenure,” quoting a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that a president is not immune from criminal charges.
“So there is no doubt that you can testify in these proceedings,” Raskin wrote.
The impeachment article accuses Trump of “instigating insurrection” for his role in the violent uprising by a pro-Trump gang in the Capitol that killed several people and terrorized lawmakers as they tried to confirm President Joe Biden’s victory.
The article also cites Trump’s January 2 phone call urging Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find “enough votes” to reverse the state’s election results as part of his attempt “to get the certification of the state. undermine and hinder the results of the 2020 presidential elections. “
The Democratic-controlled House passed the article with a vote of 232-197; 10 Republicans sided with Trump. It was the most bipartisan vote on a presidential impeachment in history, doubling the five Democrats who voted to impeach Clinton in 1998.
Castor said Trump’s allegations of voter fraud – which have never been substantiated and called baseless – will not be part of the defense.
“We don’t intend to go down that road, and I don’t see any reason for it,” he said. “As far as I know, the case is a winner. And I’m not going to inject the problem into the trunk. That injects a problem into the case. “
And Biden’s plans during the impeachment process are to continue their work as if it were not happening, White House officials said.
Assistants set a busy schedule for the president focused on the coronavirus pandemic and the economy, and meetings with state and local officials – all meant to show he’s on the job and not distracted by his predecessor’s impeachment, officials said .
An official said that from the perspective of the White House, the impeachment trial cannot end quickly enough – and Congress cannot move forward -.
Trump’s request to testify in the Senate process was met with some consternation. Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va., said it would be a “dog and pony show,” and Senator Chris Coons, D-Del., A close ally of Biden, called it “a terrible idea.”
Asked why it would be a terrible idea, Coons replied by asking, “Have you met President Trump?”
Castor, a former Pennsylvania prosecutor, said he expects the trial to end on Friday or Sunday.
Castor noted that the other lawyer on Trump’s legal team, David Schoen, will not be able to work on Saturday due to his Jewish faith.
Senate impeachment rules require the trial to run Monday through Saturday, with no trial on Sunday. That should change through an agreement between senators, who are able to change everything about the process with all 100 senators in agreement.
Castor said Schoen will make the opening argument on behalf of the former president, while a yet-to-be-appointed attorney will likely handle the middle part of the trial, and Castor expects to deliver the team’s closing argument.
Asked if there will be any surprises during the trial, Castor said, “It’s going to be exciting.”
Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner and Phil Hela contributed.