President Donald Trump was invited to attend and speak at the West Point commencement ceremony on June 13, 2020.
On Thursday, Feb. 4, an adviser to former President Trump announced that Trump will not testify at next week’s Senate impeachment hearings, even if House Democrats ask him to do so. He said this is because the impeachment is an “unconstitutional proceeding”. On the same day, Trump’s legal team also sent a letter rejecting the request.
“The president will not testify in an unconstitutional proceeding,” said Trump’s adviser Jason Miller (D-Mich.).
U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Mass.), a House Democrat and the lead impeachment leader, sent a letter Thursday to former President Trump asking him to testify at a Senate hearing where he said he would need to respond to allegations about inciting demonstrators to storm Congress on Jan. 6. In response, Trump’s legal team wrote back refuting the claims.
“Your letter only confirms what everyone knows: you cannot prove the allegations against the 45th president of the United States, who is now a citizen,” Bruce Castor and David Schoen, lawyers for the Trump camp, said in the letter “The use of our Constitution for so-called impeachment proceedings is simply too serious for (the president) to play these games.”
Trump’s second impeachment hearings will begin the week of Feb. 8. Despite the fact that Trump is out of office, congressional Democrats believe it is still crucial to convict him, arguing that Trump is solely responsible for the Jan. 6 congressional upheaval, a claim Trump roundly denies.
Senate Republicans strongly oppose the impeachment case launched against the former president. In a test vote in the Senate last week, 45 Republicans voted in favor of dismissing the trial, indicating that impeachment may have difficulty passing Congress.
In the first impeachment case against Trump in 2020, many Trump Administration officials ignored the subpoena and refused to appear. Trump was ultimately acquitted as the Senate failed to get enough members to support impeachment.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he considered the Democrats’ letter a “political maneuver” and noted that Democrats did not invite or subpoena Trump to testify before the House voted to censure him on Jan. 13.
He said it “would not be in anyone’s interest” to have former President Trump go to the hearing.
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