Swapping aid for favours ‘not impeachable’, says Trump defence

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Donald Trump’s defence has said a trade of US military aid for political favours — even if proven — can not be grounds for his impeachment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The claim&comma; coming as the US president’s Senate trial continued on Wednesday&comma; marked a striking shift from Mr Trump’s claims of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;perfect” dealings with Ukraine&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads1--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Trump’s defenders relied on retired professor Alan Dershowitz&comma; a member of their team&comma; who told senators every politician conflated his own interest with the public interest&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It cannot be impeachable&comma;” he declared&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Democrats are pressing to force the Senate to call more witnesses to testify&comma; but Republicans appear intent on bringing the impeachment trial to a vote of acquittal&comma; possibly in a matter of days&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;148683" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-148683" style&equals;"width&colon; 600px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-148683" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;01&sol;D29EF70C-6B07-44A9-98B8-643725C2B8FE&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"400" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-148683" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Demonstrators protest outside of the US Capitol during the Senate trial on Wednesday<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Even new revelations from former national security adviser John Bolton are being countered by the president’s lawyers&comma; who used Wednesday’s unusual question-and-answer session to warn off prolonging the proceeding&comma; insisting senators had heard enough&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Democrats argued Mr Bolton’s forthcoming book can not be ignored&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads2--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It contends he personally heard Mr Trump say he wanted military aid withheld from Ukraine until it agreed to investigate Joe Biden and his son&comma; Hunter Biden — the abuse of power charge that is the first article of impeachment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As Chief Justice John Roberts fielded queries&comma; Texas Republican Ted Cruz asked if it mattered whether there was a quid pro quo in such actions as those conducted by Mr Trump&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Dershowitz said it did not&comma; adding many politicians equated their reelection with the public good&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;That’s why it’s so dangerous to try to psychoanalyse a president&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Representative Adam Schiff&comma; the Democrat leading the House prosecutors&comma; appeared stunned&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;All quid pro quos are not the same&comma;” he retorted&comma; saying some might be acceptable and some not&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;And you don’t need to be a mind reader to figure out which is which&period; For one thing&comma; you can ask John Bolton&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Even new revelations from former national security adviser John Bolton are being countered by the president’s lawyers&comma; who used Wednesday’s unusual question-and-answer session to warn off prolonging the proceeding&comma; insisting senators had heard enough&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Democrats argued Mr Bolton’s forthcoming book can not be ignored&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"ad-container"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>It contends he personally heard Mr Trump say he wanted military aid withheld from Ukraine until it agreed to investigate Joe Biden and his son&comma; Hunter Biden — the abuse of power charge that is the first article of impeachment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As Chief Justice John Roberts fielded queries&comma; Texas Republican Ted Cruz asked if it mattered whether there was a quid pro quo in such actions as those conducted by Mr Trump&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Dershowitz said it did not&comma; adding many politicians equated their reelection with the public good&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;That’s why it’s so dangerous to try to psychoanalyse a president&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Representative Adam Schiff&comma; the Democrat leading the House prosecutors&comma; appeared stunned&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;All quid pro quos are not the same&comma;” he retorted&comma; saying some might be acceptable and some not&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;And you don’t need to be a mind reader to figure out which is which&period; For one thing&comma; you can ask John Bolton&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote class&equals;"twitter-tweet" data-width&equals;"550" data-dnt&equals;"true">&NewLine;<p lang&equals;"en" dir&equals;"ltr">No matter how many witnesses you give the Democrats&comma; no matter how much information is given&comma; like the quickly produced Transcripts&comma; it will NEVER be enough for them&period; They will always scream UNFAIR&period; The Impeachment Hoax is just another political CON JOB&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&mdash&semi; Donald J&period; Trump &lpar;&commat;realDonaldTrump&rpar; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;realDonaldTrump&sol;status&sol;1222344928530968576&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw">January 29&comma; 2020<&sol;a><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;platform&period;twitter&period;com&sol;widgets&period;js" charset&equals;"utf-8"><&sol;script><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With the vote on calling witnesses expected by Friday&comma; Democrats are making a last-ditch push to sway Republicans to call Mr Bolton and others to appear for testimony and ensure a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;fair trial”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Trump faces charges from the House that he abused his power like no other president&comma; jeopardising Ukraine&comma; and US-Ukraine relations&comma; by using the military aid as leverage while the vulnerable ally battled Russia&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The second article of impeachment says Mr Trump then obstructed the House probe in a way that threatened the nation’s three-branch system of checks and balances&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"ad-container"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Over two days&comma; senators are grilling the House Democrats prosecuting the case and the Republican president’s defence team&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Dozens of questions were asked and answered on Wednesday in rapid-fire fashion&comma; with senators under orders to sit silently without comment&comma; submitting their questions in writing&period; They expect to continue on Thursday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer asked whether the Senate could render a fair verdict without hearing from Mr Bolton or acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney&comma; both potential eyewitnesses to Mr Trump’s actions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Don’t wait for the book&period; Don’t wait till March 17&comma; when it is in black and white to find out the answer to your question&comma;” Mr Schiff told the Senate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That publication date is now in doubt&period; The White House on Wednesday released a letter to Mr Bolton’s attorney objecting to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;significant amounts of classified information” in the manuscript&comma; including at the top secret level&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Bolton and his lawyer have insisted the book does not contain any classified information&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"ad-container"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>The White House action could delay the book’s publication if Mr Bolton&comma; who resigned last September — Mr Trump says he was fired — is forced to revise his draft&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>GOP senators are straining to balance the new revelations with pressure for quick acquittal&period; They have been sternly warned by party leaders that calling Mr Bolton as a witness could entangle the trial in lengthy legal battles and delay Mr Trump’s expected acquittal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Most Republican senators don’t want to extend the trial by calling Mr Bolton&comma; and most Democrats would rather avoid dragging the Bidens further into the impeachment proceedings&period; The Bidens were a f<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;148683" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-148683" style&equals;"width&colon; 600px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-148683" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;01&sol;D29EF70C-6B07-44A9-98B8-643725C2B8FE&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"400" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-148683" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Demonstrators protest outside of the US Capitol during the Senate trial on Wednesday<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>ocus of defence arguments&comma; though no evidence of wrongdoing has emerged&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed60458c070">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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