That a president behaved like King George was the great concern of the founding fathers when they enshrined impeachment in the American constitution. And according to the Democratic accusation, this is exactly what Donald Trump did by "abusing" his power. On the third day of the historic trial of the President, Adam Schiff and his six colleagues strove to dismantle the arguments put forward in the media by the defenders of the President, who have not yet spoken at the bar.
Given the Republican majority in the Senate (53 seats out of 100), the elected Democrats have almost no chance of winning the trial, but they hope to make an impression on voters ten months before the presidential election.
"A president who takes himself for a king"
From the outset, the elected representative of the House of Representatives Jerry Nadler accused the tenant of the White House of having acted "bad, illegal and dangerous". The president committed an "abuse of power" by asking Ukraine to announce an investigation into Joe Biden, his potential opponent in the presidential election on November 3, in order to "bring him to his knees," argued Nadler.
To achieve his goals, the billionaire "went further" by freezing crucial military aid for this country in conflict with Russia, continued the elected official of New York, a longtime enemy of the billionaire. For him, "the dismissal is the ultimate answer of the Constitution to a president who takes himself for a king".
Trump's lawyer wants to summon Joe Biden
While the Democrats have spent a lot of time talking about Joe Biden and the Ukrainian company Burisma, Donald Trump's lawyer said they "opened the door" to a summons from the former vice president or his son Hunter. With great support from Donald Trump, Senator Lindsey Graham, however, dismissed this idea, believing that it would be a "distraction".
In total, the prosecution has 24 hours over three days to defend its case. From Saturday, it will be the turn of the defense, for the same duration. Then the two camps will have sixteen hours to respond to questions asked by the senators, in writing. They will then have to decide, by simple majority, whether they want to extend the exercise, by calling new witnesses as claimed by the prosecution. Otherwise, they will vote on the president's guilt. It would take a two-thirds majority (67 votes) to dismiss him, a threshold a priori unattainable.
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Trial of Donald Trump: Without new evidence, the pleadings of the Democrats go in circles
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