President Donald J. Trump’s legal team submitted a brief on Tuesday to the Senate outlining his defense against the impeachment charge of “incitement of insurrection.”
President Donald J. Trump, through his legal team, has officially responded to the Democrats’ partisan impeachment attempt, which represents a historic first as the Democrat-controlled Senate, with at least partial backing from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, attempts to convict a private citizen in a presidential impeachment trial.
The legal team for former President Trump on Tuesday filed its response to the House's article of impeachment ahead of next week's scheduled Senate trial, in which attorney's denying wrongdoing and calling for the Senate to acquit Trump of the charge.
The constitutional provision requires that a person actually hold office to be impeached. Since the 45th President is no longer 'President,' the clause 'shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for…' is impossible for the Senate to accomplish, and thus the current proceeding before the Senate is void ... as a legal nullity that runs patently contrary to the plain language of the Constitution," the lawyers wrote in a 14-page response.
The answer also denies that Trump violated his oath of office and that he is protected by the First Amendment.
The Democrat-controlled House after the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol impeached Trump on one article – related to inciting an insurrection.
Team Trump, ostensibly the last surviving Big Tech social media account still controlled by President Trump, posted the lengthy response on Facebook moments ago.
Noting that the U.S. Constitution only applies impeachment as a potential punishment for a sitting President of the United States, the statement firmly states that President Trump engaged in no attempt to incite an “insurrection” on January 6.
On the specific charge of violating his oath as President of the United states and failing to “faithfully execute” his responsibilities, President Trump’s legal team writes the following:
It is denied that the 45th President of the United States ever engaged in a violation of his oath of office. To the contrary, at all times, Donald J. Trump fully and faithfully executed his duties as 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. Since the 45th President is no longer “President,” the clause “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for…” referenced in Averment 1 above is impossible, and the current proceeding before the Senate is void ab initio as a legal nullity patently contrary to the plain language of the Constitution. As the present proceedings are moot and thus a nullity since the 45th President cannot be removed from an office he no longer occupies, Averment 3 is irrelevant to any matter properly before the Senate.
President Trump, through the Office of the Former President, announced his new legal team on Sunday.
This is a developing news story and may be updated with additional information as it becomes available.
Here is the official report:
