Trump lawyer calls impeachment trial “politically motivated witch-hunt”

Donald Trump’s legal team has wrapped up his defence, branding impeachment proceedings a “politically motivated” witch-hunt.

Donald Trump’s legal team has wrapped up his defence at the former president’s impeachment trial.

Lawyer Bruce Castor described the prosecution as a political attack designed to stop Mr Trump from ever running again for office.

Using just over three of the defence’s allotted 16 hours to present their rebuttal, Mr Castor and two colleagues argued that Mr Trump was not responsible for the actions of the rioters who overran the US Capitol on January 6.

They also followed the prosecution example of using carefully edited videos to make their case, showing Mr Trump repeatedly arguing on the side of law and order interspersed with clips of Democrats calling on Americans to fight against the Trump administration.

The Senate trial will now move to a question and answer session ahead of an anticipated final vote tomorrow, Saturday local time, in the Washington DC.

Mr Trump’s legal team indicated they will spend about four of their allotted 16 hours rebutting the case laid out by House impeachment managers this week.

Mr Trump’s defence slammed the trial as an “unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political vengeance” as President Joe Biden said he wanted to see if Republicans would “stand up” to Trump.

National Guard soldiers pose for photographs in the Capitol as Donald Trump’s impeachment defence got underway. Picture: AFP

Defence lawyer Michael van der Veen compared the trial to every “politically motivated witch-hunt the Left has engaged in over the past four years”.

“This appalling abuse of the Constitution only further divides our nation when we should be coming together,” he said.

He said no reading of Mr Trump’s January 6 speech could be construed as encouraging the attack on the Capitol and that Democrat claims to the contrary were “completely divorced from the facts, the evidence and the interests of the American people”.

A rioter in Washington on January 6. Picture: AFP

The riot at the Capitol. Picture: AFP

Mr Trump’s challenges to the election results were as reasonable as those that Democrats had continued to assert since 2016, he said, before playing clips of Mr Trump’s opponents objecting to his own certification.

A rioter inside the Capitol. Picture: AFP

Democrats wound up their prosecution by warning that Mr Trump could return to power if the Senate fails to find him guilty.

Impeachment managers said on day three of the trial that Mr Trump presented a “clear and ongoing danger” to the US and that he should be stopped from ever holding office again.

“Is there any political leader in this room who believes that if he is ever allowed by the Senate to get back into the Oval Office, Donald Trump would stop inciting violence to get his way?,” said lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin on Thursday afternoon, local time.

“Would you bet the lives of more police officers on it? Would you bet the safety of your family on it? Would you bet the future of your democracy on that?

“President Trump declared his conduct totally appropriate. So, he gets back into office, and it happens again, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.”

Donald Trump’s impeachment trial should conclude this weekend. Picture: AFP

Mr Raskin said the rioters who overran the US Capitol on January 6 did so at the direct invitation of Mr Trump and that he did nothing to stop them as chaos unfolded.

“President Trump is not even close to the proverbial citizen who falsely shouts ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre,” said Mr Raskin.

“He is like the now proverbial municipal fire chief who incites a mob to go set the theatre on fire, and not only refuses to put out the fire, but encourages the mob.”

Impeachment managers spent Wednesday recreating the January 6 Capitol incursion, revealing chilling new CCTV footage showing how close the mob was to the Democrat and Republican leaders they were “hunting”.

President Joe Biden finally broke his silence on the impeachment trial Friday when he said: “I’m just anxious to see what my Republican friends do, if they stand up.”

US President Joe Biden. Picture: AFP

Up to 14 Republican Senators were absent from the Senate chamber yesterday as Democrats made their case against Mr Trump.

They accuse him of “incitement of insurrection”, describing his two months of statements denying Joe Biden won the presidential election as laying the groundwork for the January uprising.

Mr Trump’s lawyers have slammed the impeachment as “political theatre” and a “public relations stunt”.

Trump supporters clash with police. Picture: AFP

A Senate vote is expected to vote in coming days as both sides seek to wrap up the trial.

Mr Trump can only be found guilty with a two-third majority vote in the Senate, which is considered highly unlikely because it would require 17 Republican senators to cross the floor.

Earlier this week, Mr Trump’s lawyers warned that America would erupt into more violence if the former president was convicted in his impeachment trial.