Democrats conclude opening arguments in Senate impeachment trial

The ruling Republican Party enjoys a 53-47 majority in the 100-member Senate. Democrats, who have a majority in the House, have alleged that the Republican leadership in the Senate will be partisan during the trial.

Washington: House impeachment managers on Friday night concluded their argument before the Senate to remove US President Donald Trump from office, saying he misused his position and indulged in obstruction to the Congress.

The house managers closed their marathon 24-hour argument spread over three days with an impassioned plea that the trial is fair.

The ruling Republican Party enjoys a 53-47 majority in the 100-member Senate. Democrats, who have a majority in the House, have alleged that the Republican leadership in the Senate will be partisan during the trial.

"I implore you to give America a fair trial. She's worth it," said Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Adam Schiff. Trump is only the third president in American history to have been formally impeached by Congress.

From Saturday, Trump's attorneys would begin presenting their defense. Like the House managers, they too have 24 hours over the next three days for their argument in support of the president.

Trump has asked the Senate to dismiss both the charges against him. He argues that he has done no wrong. In his concluding argument, Schiff outlined what he thinks Trump's attorneys will say.

"So what do all these defenses mean? What do they mean collectively when you add them all up? What they mean is under Article 2, the president can do whatever he wants. That's really it, stripped of all the detail and all the histrionics, what they want us to believe is the president can do whatever he wants under Article 2, and there is nothing you or the House can do about it," Congressman Schiff asserted.

On Saturday, Trump's team would present their argument for three hours. "I guess I would call it a trailer, kind of coming attractions would be the best way to say it. Obviously, we have three hours to put it out so we'll take whatever time is appropriate during those three hours, kind of layout with that case will lookout like, but no, next week is where you'll see the full presentation, but there will be plenty to see," Trump's personal attorney Jay Sekulow told reporters.

In an interaction with the media, he slammed Schiff. "Adam Schiff just said that this idea of the solicitation of foreign interference is deplorable," he said.

"I wonder if he thought that about the fact that the Clinton campaign had sought when it's completely corroborated, it's uncontested, that (the) Steele dossier who is utilising both supposedly asserts that a former British spy had in Russia to get information on the president then-candidate. Was that not foreign interference? Was that not an attempt for foreign interference?" he asked.

The Steele dossier is a private intelligence document pertaining to alleged misconduct and co-operation between Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election.

"So you can get on your horse and act haughty and proud about it, but you know what? Let's look at what the evidence says. And here's what the evidence says. There was foreign involvement, but let's not forget where it originated from. Let's not forget, and we haven't even begun to put on our case yet. We still will not begin until, actually, tomorrow morning.

But I want you to think about this. Where did that foreign intelligence come from? Foreign information come from?" Sekulow asserted. "It came from connections from the Federal Bureau of investigation, the number three, whose wife happened to work for Fusion GPS, who happened to be hired by the DNC to happen to do an investigation on Donald Trump," he argued.

"She didn't just do it with that Steele dossier, she was also involved with, guess what, Ukraine. We haven't put our case out, obviously, haven't begun to, but you should be able to get a sense from what I'm saying right now that this is going to -- you're going to hear -- we're going to rebut and refute and were going to put on the affirmative case tomorrow. But that's just one, just one issue," he asserted.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the House presentation has been strong, detailed, comprehensive and, at many times, compelling.

"Just drew you right into it. They successfully in advance, preempted just about all of the arguments that the President's lawyer will make. They anticipated what those arguments would be and they answered them even before the President's lawyers got there and then they have to do that because they don't' get another chance to rebut the way McConnell set out the rules," he told reporters.

The House managers did an amazing job and set a very high bar which will be difficult for the President's lawyers to overcome, Schumer asserted.

Referring to the arguments made by his Democratic colleagues from the House, Schumer said the argument was incredible and strong.

"It has become clear that President Trump demanded complete immunity, participated in a blanket obstruction and had absolute defiance," he said. "Trump in saying he wanted immunity for everything past, present and future said I'm not a President I'm a king and no one can stop me. Nobody can oversee me.

Nobody can put a check on me. That is not America. It what President Trump has demanded and what justifies the House bringing these articles is totally out of sync with the Constitution, the founding fathers and every other impeachment trial," Schumer said.

"Neither President Andrew Johnson, President Nixon or President Clinton had the gall, the temerity to come close to even asking what President Trump is asking for," he said.