WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s lawyers and House impeachment managers issued their closing arguments Monday, with Democrats arguing the Senate has a “duty” to convict Trump and the president’s legal team saying senators would “vindicate” the right to vote by leaving the matter to voters in November.
With Trump’s acquittal all but assured on Wednesday, both parties did their best to limit defections from their side of the aisle and pick off votes from the other.
“Is there one among you who will say: ‘Enough’?” asked Rep. Adam B. Schiff, telling GOP senators that even a single vote for conviction from one of them would make an important statement.
He said anyone who doesn’t vote to convict Trump will see their name “tied to his with a cord of steel for all of history.”
“A man without character or ethical compass will never find his way,” said Schiff, D-Calif. “You are decent. He is not who you are.”
The House impeached the president in December for withholding military aid and a White House meeting from Ukraine while pressuring that country’s leadership to announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden. No Republican supported impeachment in the House — and the White House is hoping that no Republican does so in the Senate, ensuring the effort will go down in history as one backed only by Democrats.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, seen as one of the few Republicans who might break with her party, announced Monday evening she would not support removing Trump from office, though she called his actions “shameful and wrong.” She said Trump degraded the office of the presidency, but that ultimately she could not vote to convict.
Trump’s lawyers reiterated that Trump didn’t do anything wrong and condemned the House for imposing a partisan impeachment on the country, playing a video of some House Democrats calling for impeachment shortly after the president was elected in 2016.
“The president has done nothing wrong and these types of impeachments must end,” said White House counsel Pat Cipollone. “You’ll vindicate the right to vote. You’ll vindicate the Constitution. You’ll vindicate the rule of law by rejecting these articles.”
Friday’s vote to block subpoenas for witnesses and documents was the most significant point of suspense in the two-week impeachment trial. Republicans blocked that motion, meaning there is nothing left to do but wind down the trial and hold the final vote on whether the president should be removed from office.
“Your duty demands that you convict President Trump,” Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., another House manager, said. “Today you have a duty to perform with fidelity, not without a sense of surrounding dangers, but also not without hope.”
Trump’s lawyers focused in on the idea that the Senate should leave the decision of Trump’s fate to the voters, tapping into the conclusion reached by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.
Alexander, who was considered a possible swing vote on the question of witnesses, said Sunday that Trump’s actions amounted to “crossing the line.” But he also said the conduct did not rise to the level of removing the president from office.
“Our founding documents provide for duly elected presidents who serve with ‘the consent of the governed,’ not at the pleasure of the United States Congress,” Alexander said in his statement Thursday. “Let the people decide.”
Following closing arguments Monday, senators began giving speeches on the Senate floor to explain their vote, a process that will continue for the next two days. The final vote on conviction or acquittal won’t take place until Wednesday afternoon.
