Rep. Jamie Raskin and the House impeachment managers just upped the ante against Donald Trump, whether he agrees to testify about his “stolen election” and other lies that incited the January 6 insurrection or not.
House Impeachment Managers Request Trump Testify Under Oath
Donald TrumpCredit: Crooks and Liars
February 4, 2021

Trump has already declined to provide sworn testimony, given that any lies can and probably will be used against him. But not testifying can and will be used against him, too. Rep. Jamie Raskin, Lead Impeachment Manager, makes that very clear in his letter, requesting a response by 5 PM tomorrow:

Two days ago, you filed an Answer in which you denied many factual allegations set forth in the article of impeachment. You have thus attempted to put critical facts at issue notwithstanding the clear and overwhelming evidence of your constitutional offense. In light of your disputing these factual allegations, I write to invite you to provide testimony under oath, either before or during the Senate impeachment trial, concerning your conduct on January 6, 2021.

If you decline this invitation, we reserve any and all rights, including the right to establish at trial that your refusal to testify supports a strong adverse inference regarding your actions (and inaction) on January 6, 2021.

By the way, there is no presumption of innocence in an impeachment trial.

Trump’s latest lawyers, the “Unites States” team of Bruce Castor and David Schoen, first bashed the request without actually refusing it.

Later, Schoen "clarified" that Trump really won't appear voluntarily (it's possible, though unlikely, he could be subpoenaed, though).

Meanwhile, lawyers on Twitter have thoughts:

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon