House Democrats kicked off opening arguments in President Trump’s impeachment trial Wednesday by invoking the Framers and urging the Senate to remove the president from office over his “cold-blooded” Ukraine scheme — as Republicans all but ignored their impassioned pleas.
In the first of three sessions earmarked for Democratic arguments, the seven House impeachment managers took turns laying out the case that Trump abused his power and obstructed Congress.
They quoted Alexander Hamilton and other Founding Fathers in lengthy speeches from the Senate floor, played video clips of witness testimony from the House impeachment inquiry and called on Republicans to live up to their constitutional oath.
“We are here today in this hallowed chamber undertaking this solemn action for only the third time in history because Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States, has acted precisely as Hamilton and his contemporaries feared,” said House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who leads the team of impeachment managers.