Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) opened up the Senate impeachment trial by delivering a blistering opening statement calling out Donald Trump for believing that he is above the law.
Schiff shut down the Trump legal team’s claims that the president’s conduct would not be an impeachable offense even if all the allegations against him were definitively proven to be true.
“It is the president’s apparent belief that, under Article 2, he can do anything he wants, no matter how corrupt,” Schiff said. “And yet, when the Founders wrote this clause, they had this type of conduct in mind, conduct that abuses the power of office for his personal benefit, that undermines our national security, that invites foreign interference in our democratic process of an election. It is the trifecta of constitutional misconduct justifying our impeachment.”
Schiff then addressed Republicans, urging them to allow witnesses from both sides to make the trial a fair process.
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“The harm is this: You will not have any of the evidence the president continues to conceal throughout most or all of the trial,” he said.
Take a look at his opening statement in the video clip below:
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