DETROIT – Three years ago tonight in Washington it was a much different atmosphere. President Donald Trump and Republicans were celebrating his inauguration.
Now, exactly three years later, he and his party are hunkering down to defend his presidency in just the third impeachment trial in American history.
The House of Representatives debated and voted on two articles of impeachment on Dec. 18 after weeks of testimony and both passed. The articles charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Through the House proceedings we haven’t gotten a sense of what the president’s defense will be because no defense witnesses showed up. Monday night it’s becoming clear what the focus will be and if that will be enough to change any minds in the Republican majority.
Democrats alleged Trump abused his power as president, enough to reach the definition of high crimes and misdemeanors. On Monday night, at least part of his legal team is willing to concede the abuse of power. Trump’s impeachment lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, is arguing that’s not enough to remove him from office.
“Abuse of power is not, is not the criteria for impeachment. Any more than dishonesty would be a criteria for impeachment,” Dershowitz said.
The rest of the president’s team won’t deny he pressured Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, but that he was within his rights to try and root out corruption.
“I think what we want in the impeachment trial is an open fair, transparent trial,” Dershowitz said.
Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell would like to see witnesses testify who were not available during the house hearings. She’s calling on senators of both parties to remember the oaths they have taken, including the ones administered by Chief Justice John Roberts.
The impeachment trial is set to begin at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has released some trial rules and it will call for a simple majority vote on whether to allow witnesses. The rules give each side 24 hours to present their case over just two days. The trial could go very late into the night.