Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the president's counsel inadvertently 'made a really compelling case for why the Senate should call witnesses and documents" and House impeachment manager Adam Schiff said Trump's lawyers "don't contest the basic architecture of this scheme."
Speaking after President Donald Trump's lawyers began presenting the defense in the Senate impeachment trial, Schumer said 'there are gaping holes in their testimony.'
Lawyers for U.S. President Donald Trump told his Senate impeachment trial on Saturday that Democrats' efforts to remove the president from office would set a "very, very dangerous" precedent in an election year.
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, the head of the defense team, told Senators they would be denying voters their right to give their opinion on Trump at the Nov.
3 presidential election if they found him guilty and ousted him now.
In only the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history, Democrats argued earlier this week that Trump should be removed for encouraging Ukraine to interfere in the election by pressuring its leader to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading 2020 Democratic presidential contender.
The defense tried to turn that argument of election interference against the Democrats by warning against removing a president less than 10 months before the American people will vote on whether to give him a second term.
The Democratic-led House of Representatives impeached Trump last month on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, setting the stage for the trial in the Republican-led Senate.