Former president Donald Trump refused Thursday to testify in his looming impeachment trial after being called by House prosecutors to give evidence, branding the process “unconstitutional.”
Trump’s lawyers ridiculed the request in a letter by lead House prosecutor Jamie Raskin to answer questions over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol as a “public relations stunt.”
The refusal came five days before the trial of the former US leader on one charge of “incitement to insurrection” opens in the US Senate.
The Democratic House prosecutors, or impeachment managers, say the Republican leader was “singularly responsible” for the Capitol attack, which left five dead.
Trump’s team argued in a filing Tuesday that whatever he said in the days and hours before the attack to encourage supporters to reject Biden’s election win amounted to constitutionally protected free speech.❐
Conviction requires support of two-thirds of the 100 senators, who serve as judges and jury in the trial. But last week 45 of 50 Republican senators made clear in a vote they think trying an ex-president is unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, the Democratic-led US House voted Thursday to discipline a congresswoman who embraced QAnon conspiracy theories and endorsed violence.
Conservative congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, facing
bipartisan opprobrium for a series of disturbing comments and support of social media posts advocating the assassination of Democratic lawmakers, was stripped of her two assignments on the House education and budget committees.
The punishment was meted out in a modestly bipartisan vote of 230 to 199 which occurred hours after Greene took to the House floor to renounce the conspiracy movement and expressed regret for spreading misinformation. Eleven Republicans defied their party to join all voting Democrats in disciplining Greene.
But Republicans blasted the action against one of their own as shattering congressional precedent, with members of leadership warning of potential political payback should they regain power.
“This vote today sets a dangerous precedent for this institution that Democrats may regret when Republicans regain the majority,” said number three Republican Liz Cheney.
