President Donald Trump's lawyers began their case in his defense Saturday as the Senate impeachment trial concludes its first week of arguments.
The defense phase of the trial follows three days of arguments against the president from House impeachment managers.
Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow said Friday that Saturday's arguments, which lasted only about two hours, would be "our sneak preview" of their broader case.
Highlights from the Senate trial
- Trump's defense team attacks credibility of lead House manager Adam Schiff and Amb. Gordon Sondland, invokes Mueller investigation and accuses Democrats of trying to interfere in the election.
- NBC News fact-checks the defense's claims on when Ukraine knew about the aid hold, the comparative amount of European aid to the country, whether Ukraine got the meeting it sought, and whether it interfered in the 2016 election.
- Senate and House Democrats, GOP moderates, respond to Trump team's arguments. Republican Sen. Mitt Romney says he will likely vote for witnesses.
- What happened Saturday and what to expect Monday and Tuesday.
Sekulow: Trump didn't trust his intelligence officials
Trump had reason to doubt his intelligence officials, giving him good reason to enlist a shadow Ukraine operation to investigate alleged electoral interference in 2016, his attorney Jay Sekulow said in his opening arguments Saturday.
Sekulow began by highlighting the years-long Mueller investigation and report in addition to FBI FISA court mishaps detailed by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz in a report late last year. He added that Trump chose not to "blindly trust" the advice of his intelligence officials as a result of those matters.
"In his summation on Thursday night, Manager Schiff complained that the president chose not to go with the determinations of his intelligence agencies regarding foreign interference and instead decided he would listen to people that he trusted, and he would inquire about the Ukraine issue himself," Sekulow said. "Mr. Schiff did not like the fact that the president did not apparently blindly trust some of the advice he was being given by the intelligence agencies."
"They kept telling you it was Russia alone that interfered in the 2016 election, but there is evidence that Ukraine also interfered," Sekulow added.
One of the biggest instances of so-called Ukrainian interference Trump's allies have highlighted involved the publication of what was referred to as the "Black Ledger," a document showing that Trump's then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort was taking in millions in undisclosed payments from Ukraine's pro-Russia political party. The revelation led to Manafort's resignation from the Trump campaign and eventual prosecution and conviction in the Mueller probe. Manafort is now in prison.
Meanwhile, Trump had asked Zelenskiy to probe the "CrowdStrike" conspiracy, a theory even one former top Trump administration official called "debunked." It alleges that a Democratic National Committee server was placed somewhere in Ukraine and used to frame Russia for 2016 electoral interference. And Trump asked his counterpart to announce a probe into the Bidens in an investigation seemingly unrelated 2016.
Graham: Looking at Bidens, Burisma is 'better done outside impeachment'
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., spoke to reporters off camera before heading to the Senate trial Saturday morning. On witnesses, Graham said he doesn’t “want to call Hunter and Joe Biden at this forum.”
“But somebody needs to look at the Biden’s connection to Ukraine,” Graham continued. “I think it’s better done outside impeachment.”
Graham said he has not spoken to the president about an independent counsel to investigate the Biden connection to Ukraine.
“But somebody needs to think about this,” Graham said. “If you want me to do it, I’ll do it. I’d rather have somebody like Mueller do it because I think it’s important to look, but if my Democratic colleagues say looking at the Bidens has been done, there’s no reason to look, I find that offensive.”
Fact check: Cipollone adopts Trump's falsehoods on European aid to Ukraine
White House attorney Pat Cipollone kicked off the defense’s opening arguments on Saturday by adopting the president’s routine false claims that the U.S. is picking up the bulk of the tab for Ukraine's foreign aid.
The president addressed cost sharing in his July call with the Ukrainian president, Cipollone said, reading through the call transcript.
"Now what does President Zelenskiy say? Does he disagree? No, he agrees,” Cipollone continued, reading the Ukrainian president’s effusive thanks for the aid.
But while the Ukrainian president chose to give effusive thanks and agree with Trump's claim, Europe's aid dwarfs American financial assistance to Ukraine.
The European Union put up $16.5 billion in financial aid, according to a fact sheet from the E.U.'s diplomatic arm. The International Monetary Fund said it would put forward at least $14 billion in a bailout as well. The U.S. has given $1.5 billion in security assistance since 2014 and $1 billion in loan guarantees.
Purpura goes after Schiff's parody of Trump's July 25 phone call
In his opening, White House deputy counsel Mike Purpura went directly after Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead House impeachment manager and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, by playing the video of Schiff reading the record of Trump's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Purpura derided Schiff for his mocking interpretation of the call during a House Intelligence Committee hearing last September, which Schiff said was "in essence" and “in sum and character” of what the president was asking the Ukrainian president.
The White House's five-page description of the call shows that Trump asked Zelenskiy to "look into" the family of possible 2020 rival Joe Biden. Trump also said the words, "I would like you to do us a favor, though" — which appears to involve discovering whether Ukraine might possess a server that contained some of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails. Though it was not explicit, Trump also appears to tie the award of aid to Ukraine to Zelenskiy's willingness to cooperate with Trump.
But Purpura told the chamber that Schiff’s retelling was “fake” and that Senators should focus on the actual reading of the transcript in which Purpura said there was no link between investigations and withholding security assistance.
“That’s fake, that's not the real call,” he said. “That’s not the evidence here, that's not the transcript Mr. Cipollone just referenced.”
He added, “We can shrug it off and say we were making light and making a joke...Let’s stick with the evidence, let’s talk about the facts in this case.”
During his closing on Friday, Schiff said he expected this line of attack from Trump's team.
"I discovered something very significant by mocking the president and that is for a man who loves to mock others, he does not like to be mocked. As it turns out, he's got a pretty thin skin. Who would have thought it?” Schiff said. “Never mind that I said I wasn't using his words before I said, and I wasn't using his words after I said it, and I said I was making a parody of his words — 'It's an outrage! He mocked the president, that Schiff! Terrible!'"
Cipollone: Democrats trying to 'interfere' in the election
Cipollone opened Trump's defense Saturday arguing that House managers are asking senators to "remove" Trump from the general election ballot.
"As House managers, their goal should be to give you all of the facts, because they’re asking you to do something very, very consequential and I would submit to you, to use a word Schiff used a lot, very, very dangerous," Cipollone said, adding, "They’re asking you to remove President Trump from the ballot in an election that's occurring in approximately nine months, they’re asking you to tear up all of the ballots across the country on your own initiative — take that decision away from the American people and I don’t think they spent one minute of their 24 hours talking about the consequences of that for this country."
"They didn’t tell you what that would mean for our country, today, this year, and forever into our future," he continued, saying that the managers are asking senators to "tear up all the ballots" with Trump's name on them.
Cipollone said Saturday's presentation will take between two and three hours and that Trump's defense does not plan to use all of their allotted 24 hours.
"You will find the president did absolutely nothing wrong," Cipollone said, echoing the Trump's frequent defense.
What to expect from Trump's defense
Here's what to expect from Trump's defense team:
What you'll hear Saturday
A “coming attractions” preview of the president’s defense case. As we've reported, sources close to the president want to make sure they get at least some of their messaging out there, but they’re also cognizant of the weekend’s lower ratings. It’s why you’ll see a fair amount of repetition Monday. White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow will likely handle much of the presentation, though you could see others. But a source on the team says the bulk of the arguments will occur Monday. That’s when we expect Dershowitz, Starr, and others to make their presentations.
Will they go to Tuesday?
It’s possible, but at this point we are not betting big on it. A senior administration official and Republican leadership source tell NBC News that arguments are likely to last roughly 10 hours (a few Saturday and the rest Monday). Caveat: things could still change, as the defense team is reserving the right to go longer if they feel it’s needed.
How will Parnas recording affect arguments?
A source on the president’s legal team said he doesn’t believe this new reporting of Trump apparently talking to Lev Parnas in an audio recording would have “any impact” on their team’s case. Note: NBC News has not heard the entire audio recording and is working to obtain it; it's also unclear whether the audio published by ABC News has been edited.
POTUS call 'perfect'?
Asked if the defense would include Trump's assertions that his call with the president of Ukraine was “perfect,” the source on the legal team said part of the defense would be that the president “didn’t do anything wrong, and that is clear from the transcript of the call.” The source clarified that the defense won’t be “limited just to the transcript of the call,” but it will be a “key” piece of evidence because that’s the “primary” thing Democrats have “based their case on.”
Joe Biden
Asked how much the Trump team is planning to talk about Joe Biden and specifically why it was relevant for the president to bring up Biden to the Ukrainians, a source on the president’s legal team said they wouldn’t get into details of their strategy but added that it “became quite apparent” in the House managers’ presentation that they’ve “made it very relevant to the case” and “spent a lot of time bringing the Bidens into this case,” and the Trump legal will address that.
Trump hints his defense team will begin by attacking Democrats
Moments ahead of the start of his impeachment trial defense, Trump tweeted: "Our case against lyin’, cheatin’, liddle’ Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, Nervous Nancy Pelosi, their leader, dumb as a rock AOC, & the entire Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrat Party, starts today at 10:00 A.M. on @FoxNews, @OANN or Fake News @CNN or Fake News MSDNC!"
It's a clear sign that the president's defense will rely heavily on criticizing prominent Democrats.
The tweet comes after House managers spent three days pressing their case that Trump should be found guilty and removed from office over his efforts to push Ukraine to probe the Bidens and Democrats as he withheld nearly $400 million in military aid and an official White House visit for Ukraine's president, as well as his obstruction of Congress' investigation into the matter.
Democrats tweeted ahead of Saturday's proceedings, too.
"As we head into today’s arguments, I implore the White House counsel to present a substantive argument as to why the President shouldn’t be impeached," Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., tweeted. "Don’t continue to insult the country by saying he did nothing wrong."
"Conducting this impeachment trial is one of our biggest responsibilities as senators," Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., posted. "Let’s focus on the facts. Let’s focus on the law. Let’s ensure this is a fair trial—and that we deliver fair and impartial justice."
Who is Dmytro Firtash? The man linked to $1 million loan to Giuliani ally has a shadowy past
In September, one month before Lev Parnas was indicted on campaign finance charges, his wife received wire transfers from a bank account in Russia.
The sum was $1 million, and the source was a lawyer for Dmytro Firtash, according to a court filing by U.S. prosecutors.
Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch who made a fortune in the natural gas trade, is perhaps the most enigmatic figure in the scandal that has played a key role in President Donald Trump’s impeachment.
A billionaire with alleged ties to the Russian mob, Firtash is facing bribery-related charges in the U.S. and fighting extradition from Vienna. He once attempted to buy and redevelop the famous Drake Hotel in New York with the now-incarcerated Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman. And he’s seen by Ukrainian anti-corruption activists and Western governments as a corrupt instrument of Russia.
House Dems to deliver 28,000 pages of their trial record to Senate
The managers plan to deliver their trial record for the official senate record this morning around 9:30.
It's more than 28,000 pages.
GOP senators incensed by Schiff 'head on a pike' remark at impeachment trial
Senate Republicans said lead impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff insulted them during the trial on Friday night by repeating an anonymously sourced report that the White House had threatened to punish Republicans who voted against President Donald Trump.
Schiff, who delivered closing arguments for the prosecution, was holding Republican senators rapt as he called for removing Trump from office for abusing his power and obstructing Congress. Doing anything else, he argued, would be to let the president bully Senate Republicans into ignoring his pressure on Ukraine for political help.
"CBS News reported last night that a Trump confidant said that key senators were warned, 'Vote against the president and your head will be on a pike.' I don't know if that's true," Schiff said.
After that remark, the generally respectful mood in the Senate immediately changed. Republicans across their side of the chamber groaned, gasped and said, "That's not true." One of those key moderate Republicans, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, looked directly at Schiff, shook her head and said, "Not true."
Trump's team plans to kick off arguments with discussion of Biden, Burisma and Steele dossier
President Donald Trump's defense team on Saturday morning will begin the first of up to three days — 24 hours maximum — to make their case against the articles of impeachment.
The session begins at 10 a.m., and Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow told reporters said it will only go for three hours, saying it will be a “a trailer, kind of a coming attractions” ahead of the trial resuming on Monday.
We do not expect Ken Starr or Alan Dershowitz to speak during Saturday's session, but Sekulow said Friday that the defense plans to discuss Biden, Burisma and the origins of the Steele dossier during their arguments.
OPINION: Not surprisingly, Trump's impeachment defense team has a woman problem
There's been a lot of talk about President Donald Trump's choice of Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr as lawyers participating in his Senate impeachment trial defense. Most of this has rightly focused on the arguments both men presented at President Bill Clinton's impeachment in 1999, which stand in almost laughable contradiction to the arguments they now seek to present.
But when these two hired guns are examined alongside their latest famous client, another more troubling thread emerges, one that has been all too common for those in Trump's orbit. These guys really don't like women.
While the president still stands accused of sexual misconduct, including rape, by more than 20 women, both of these lawyers are deeply embroiled in their own sexual misconduct and assault scandals.
Democrats hope they persuaded these Republicans to back impeachment witnesses
The House managers have finished up their opening arguments in their case against President Donald Trump — but it's still unclear whether they'll be able to present any new evidence.
"Every day more and more of the public is watching," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday. "I am more hopeful than ever that four conscientious brave Republicans will come forward and tell (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell you can't shut this down without witnesses, you can't shut this down without documents."
With the GOP holding a 53-47 majority in the Senate, Democrats would need at least four Republicans to cross party lines in order to be able to call witnesses or subpoena documents in the third presidential impeachment trial in American history.
Here's a look at some of the Senate Republicans who could cross party lines and where they stand.
Just catching up? Here's what you missed
House impeachment managers presented their case against the president over three days this week, and Trump's legal team launched its defense in a short session on Saturday. If you're just catching up, here's what you missed:
Article II - Making History
Today on Article II, Steve Kornacki talks to Kasie Hunt, Capitol Hill correspondent and host of Kasie DC, about the conclusion of opening arguments from House managers, and her exclusive interview with the first women to hold this role.
The two discuss:
- How Representatives Zoe Lofgren, Val Demmings and Sylvia Garcia approached their position as House managers
- How Senate politics have changed since the last Presidential impeachment trial
- How the House managers are reflecting on this moment in American political history
