White House Says President Trump Will Address ‘False Charges’ During Senate Impeachment Trial
As House Democrats wrapped up a wild, several-week period of televised witness testimony and deliberation with regard to President Donald Trump‘s ongoing impeachment inquiry, the White House on Tuesday announced that Trump will address the situation once the process is moved to the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.
According to Reuters, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham made clear in a statement that there’s no doubt Trump will defend himself against the charges brought forth in two articles of impeachment drafted by and announced by House Democrats on Tuesday morning.
“The President will address these false charges in the Senate and expects to be fully exonerated, because he did nothing wrong,” the statement said.
Some legal experts, such as Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano, have predicted that Trump could provide live testimony during the Senate’s portion of the impeachment inquiry process. But Grisham, when asked how the president would address the impeachment charges, declined to provide further detail.
“I’m not going to get ahead of what he may do but I’m sure we’ll participate in some way, certainly with our counsel,” Grisham said during a Fox News interview. “And we’re going to be calling on witnesses and we hope that they will participate.”
Trump and a vast majority of his Republican allies have vigorously defended against the allegations that the president committed any wrongdoing in his July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president. House Democrats, on the heels of a report from an anonymous whistleblower in the U.S. intelligence community, launched a formal impeachment inquiry shortly after, accusing the president of abusing his power for political gain.
Presumably, Trump will wait to address the impeachment charges in the Senate due to the fact that Republicans will largely have control over the rules of the impeachment hearing and allow their Republican colleagues to call desired witnesses.
“If you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate, and so that our Country can get back to business.”
President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/P4YpVBlQjg— Dan Scavino Jr.??? (@DanScavino) December 8, 2019
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, during a Sunday interview on Fox News, stated that he intends to make sure the impeachment probe is ended quickly when it reaches his chamber.
“Here’s what I’m going to do with the trial: I’m going to try to get it over as quickly as possible,” Graham said, before explaining that he would let Democrats make their case and short of anything “new and dramatic,” he will move for a vote.
Graham also predicted that the president would be acquitted as a result of a Senate vote.
House Democrats are reported to be in preparation to take an official vote on moving the impeachment inquiry to the Senate as early as next week, keeping in line with their rapid approach in moving the process forward.
