'Scheme was all about Trump's re-election': Dem Lofgren
Democrats on Thursday pressed their case at U.S. President Donald Trump's Senate trial for removing him from office by using the words of his own allies against him to make the point that his actions constituted impeachment offenses, but his fellow Republicans showed no signs of turning against him.
The Democratic House of Representatives lawmakers serving as prosecutors in the trial presented the second of their three days of opening arguments as they appealed to senators to convict him on two charges - abuse of power and obstruction of Congress - passed by the House last month.
The U.S. Constitution sets out the impeachment process for removing a president who commits "high crimes and misdemeanors." Trump's legal team has argued that the House charges were invalid because impeachable offenses must represent a specific violation of criminal law.
"Impeachment is not a punishment for crimes," Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler told the assembled senators. "Impeachment exists to address threats to the political system, applies only to political officials and responds not by imprisonment or fines but only by stripping political power."
