Trial erupts in row over Joe Biden and son Hunter

Joe Biden and son Hunter have become a flashpoint of the Trump impeachment trial after Democrats strongly defended them.

Donald Trump arrives at Miami International Airport to attend the Republican National Committee winter meetings on Friday. Picture: AP

Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, have become a flashpoint of the impeachment trial after Democrats strongly defended them while Donald Trump said it would be a big problem for Democrats if they were called as witnesses.

The move by Democrats to try to debunk claims against the Bidens was made in anticipation that the President’s lawyers will target them over their activities in Ukraine when Mr Trump’s team presents its defence to the Senate at the weekend.

During the second day of the Democrats presenting their case, impeachment manager Sylvia Garcia said it was clear Mr Trump’s decision to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens was because he feared the former vice-president was a formidable political opponent in the coming election.

“There was no basis for the investigation the President was pursuing and pushing. None. He was doing it only for his own political benefit,” Ms Garcia said on Friday AEDT. There was “no evidence, nothing, nada”′ to suggest Mr Biden did anything improper in his dealings with Ukraine.

Ms Garcia said Mr Trump did not focus on the issue until last year when “Biden became the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination and polls showed that he had the largest head-to-head lead against President Trump. That became a problem”.

“There is no comparison — none at all — between what he did and President Trump’s abuse of power,” she said.

Mr Trump, who has accused the Bidens of corrupt behaviour in Ukraine, said the Democrats did not want them to appear as witnesses because they feared what they would say. “The Democrats don’t want a Witness Trade because (lead impeachment manager) Shifty (Adam) Schiff, the Bidens, the fake Whistleblower (& his lawyer), the second Whistleblower (who vanished after I released the Transcripts), the so-called “informer”, & many other Democrat disasters, would be a BIG problem for them!,” he tweeted.

Republicans say that when he was vice-president Mr Biden tried to remove Ukraine’s corruption prosecutor to prevent him investigating Ukraine energy company Burisma, where Hunter Biden was a board member. Ms Garcia denied this theory, saying Mr Biden tried to get rid of the prosecutor with the support of US allies because the prosecutor was corrupt and that at that time there was no active investigation into Burisma.

Some Republicans want to call both Bidens as witnesses but Democrats have opposed their appearance. Republican senator Lindsey Graham said: “I don’t know anything about the Biden connection to the Ukraine. So when the managers tell me this has been looked at and debunked — by who?”

Mr Biden, campaigning in Iowa, has said he will not be part of any witness swap between Democrats and Republicans. He said Democrats had no choice but to impeach Mr Trump. “People ask the question, ‘Isn’t the President going to be stronger and harder to beat if he survives this?’,” Mr Biden said. “Yes, probably. But congress has no choice.”

One of the President’s lawyers, Jay Sekulow, said that when they present their defence of the President to the Senate, they would show how Mr Trump’s actions were far from an impeachable offence.

“We’ve got lawyers that are going to put forward when our side of the case goes that represents multiple schools of thought on what is and is not an impeachable offence, but they have one thing in common, that the actions alleged and the actions of the President do not reach that level no matter which school of thought you’re on,” Mr Sekulow said.

Democrat impeachment manager Jerry Nadler told the Senate the evidence represented a clear abuse of power by the President in seeking to pressure Ukraine to investigate Mr Biden. “No president has ever used his office to compel a foreign nation to help him cheat in our elections — prior presidents would be shocked to the core by such conduct, and rightly so,” he said. “President Trump has made clear in word and deed he will persist in such conduct if he is not removed from power. He poses a continuing threat to our nation, to the integrity of our elections, to our democratic order. He must not remain in power one moment longer.” Democrats are hoping to win a vote next week on whether new witnesses should be called.

Senate Democrat minority leader Chuck Schumer said if new witnesses were not allowed, any acquittal would ring hollow. “If the American people believe this is not a fair trial — which right now, they seem to believe, because there are no witnesses and documents — acquittal will have zero value to the President or to the Republicans.” The Democrats finish presenting their case on Saturday (AEDT) after which the President’s lawyers will have three days to present their case to the Senate.

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia