NBC NEWS – House managers in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump filed their brief to the Senate on Saturday outlining a "compelling case" against Trump, who will deliver his own brief to the chamber on Monday.
The House managers, seven Democratic congressional leaders who will try the case against Trump during the Senate trial starting next week, say in the briefthat the evidence against Trump is "overwhelming" and proves he used his official power to pressure Ukraine to interfere in the upcoming 2020 election.
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It details instances in which members of Trump’s internal circle defied congressional subpoenas and refused to cooperate with a House investigation. The House managers called Trump’s behavior “the Framers’ worst nightmare” and said Trump’s actions present a “danger to our democratic processes.”
"Through his obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry, President Trump attempted to place himself above the law and undermined the fundamental Constitutional principles on which our Nation was founded," Congressional leaders said in a statement. "The President’s gross abuse of power and obstruction of Congress reflect a pattern of misconduct and an ongoing threat to the Nation."
In an emailed statement, the White House called the two articles of impeachment against Trump a "dangerous attack on the right of the American people to freely choose their President."
"This is a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election—now just months away," the statement read, in part. "The highly partisan and reckless obsession with impeaching the President began the day he was inaugurated and continues to this day."
Trump's trial brief is due Monday, and the House must file its rebuttal by Tuesday morning. The impeachment trial starts Tuesday afternoon.
Trump's legal team, led by White House counsel Pat Cipollone and the president's personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, challenged the impeachment on constitutional and procedural grounds, accusing House Democrats of mistreating the president since Day One.
On Friday, Trump named Ken Starr, the prosecutor whose investigation two decades ago led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, along with former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, to his defense team.