Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers have submitted a brief denying that the former president should be tried in the Senate after the House impeached him last month, arguing that it goes against the Constitution to impeach a former official who doesn’t hold any office.
Click on the following link to reach the official filing:
In it, lawyers David Schoen and Bruce Castor argue that the Constitution “requires that a person actually hold office to be impeached” and that Trump was exercising his First Amendment right of free speech to question the results of the November election.
“It is denied that the 45th president of the United States ever engaged in a violation of his oath of office,” the defense attorneys wrote. “To the contrary, at all times Donald J. Trump fully and faithfully executed his duties as the president of the United States and at all times acted to the best of his ability to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States while never engaging in any high crimes or misdemeanors.”
Castor and Schoen assert Trump did not make false election claims—as Democrats have alleged—and said state election laws were changed to favor mail-in balloting efforts amid the pandemic.
“Insufficient evidence exists upon which a reasonable jurist could conclude that the 45th President’s statements were accurate or not, and he therefore denies they were false,” they wrote.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Schoen said the defense would make the case that Trump’s impeachment is unconstitutional, the Capitol riot was in part pre-planned, and that a conviction would be a blow to the First Amendment.
“Besides the fact that this process is completely unconstitutional … this is a very, very dangerous road to take with respect to the First Amendment, putting at risk any passionate political speaker, which is against everything we believe in this country,” Schoen said.
Trump “condemned violence at all times,” January 6 Schoen added. “Read the words of his speech. It calls for peacefulness,” he said.
The circus is scheduled to start next week.