Trump impeachment trial day 12

The impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump enters its 12th day on Monday, following a Senate vote that rejected calling new witnesses, and all but assures an acquittal for the president.

The House managers and Trump’s defence team will present up to four hours of closing argument on Monday. The final vote on acquitting or convicting the president is scheduled for Wednesday.

House managers, who act as prosecutors, had faced an uphill battle from the start, with a two-thirds Senate vote needed to remove Trump from office. Republicans have 53 seats in the 100-member chamber. Democrats had hoped that new witnesses and evidence – particularly in light of reported revelations in an unpublished book by former National Security Advisor John Bolton – might have changed the dynamic in the partisan proceedings.

As the trial begins its 12th day, here are all the latest updates as of Monday, February 3:

House manager Garcia: ‘We all know that he will do it again’
House manager Sylvia Garcia, in her closing arguments on Monday, said the president will meddle in elections again if not removed from office.

“We all know that he will do it again,” said Garcia. “We must stop him from further harming our democracy, we must stop him from further betraying his oath.”

“We simply cannot give our children a democracy if their president is above the law,” she said. “This president must be removed”.

House manager Lofgren resumes closing arguments
House manager Zoe Lofgren has resumed closing arguments in support of convicting the president.

Trump’s defence team concludes closing arguments
President Donald Trump’s defence team has concluded their closing arguments, again recasting the trial as an attempt to undermine US democracy while calling for the end to “endless” investigations.

“We’re sitting here on the day the election season begins in Iowa. It is wrong,” said lead lawyer Pat Cipollone, “and there is only one answer to that, the answer is reject these articles of impeachment”.

He called on senators to “end the era of impeachment once and for all.”

Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow calls trial ‘first totally partisan presidential impeachment in our nation’s history’
Trump defence lawyer Jay Sekulow, in his closing arguments on Monday, called the trial the “first totally partisan presidential impeachment in our nation’s history”.

“This is exactly and precisely what the founders feared,” said Sekulow, after playing a montage of Democratic legislators calling for Trump’s impeachment throughout his presidency.

Trump lawyer Cipollone urges senators to acquit Trump
The lead lawyer of the president’s defence team, Pat Cipollone, said Democrats were trying to overturn the the results of the 2016 election and urged senators to acquit Donald Trump.

“At the end of the day, this is an effort to overturn the results of one election and to try to interfere in the coming election that begins today in Iowa,” Cipollone said during the defence’s closing arguments.

Trump legal defence begins closing arguments
The lead lawyer on the president’s defence team, Pat Cipollone, said the Defence’s closing arguments would be brief.

Schiff urges senators to convict Trump
In his closing arguments on Monday, lead House manager Adam Schiff made a final appeal for senators to convict the president on both articles of impeachment – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress – passed by the House of Representatives in December.

“Today, we urge you in the face of overwhelming evidence of the president’s guilt and knowing that if left in office, he will continue to seek foreign interference in the next election to vote to convict on both articles of impeachment and to remove from office Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States,” Schiff said

House manager Jeffries says ‘courage’ of public officials who came forward ‘mattered’
House manager Hakeem Jeffries spoke directly to Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman and “to the other public servants who came forward and told the truth in the face of vicious smears, intimidation and White House efforts to silence you”.

“Your courage mattered,” Jeffries said during the House managers closing arguments. “You did the right thing. You did your duty.”

Jeffries added that “we will remain vigilant in the House”.

Trump tweets about ‘Impeachment Hoax’ on more subdued day of proceedings
President Donald Trump resumed his derision of the impeachment trial taking place in the Senate on Monday.

“I hope Republicans & the American people realize that the totally partisan Impeachment Hoax is exacty [sic] that, a Hoax,” Trump tweeted, while Democratic House managers gave closing arguments in the impeachment trial.

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