U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner asked President Donald Trump’s attorneys on Wednesday whether the House of Representatives has overstated its authority and possibly abused its power of impeachment.
The president was impeached last month on two counts — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, the second of which was due to his refusal to allow executive branch officials to comply with subpoenas. On Wednesday, the president’s impeachment trial featured eight hours of questions from senators.
“Arguments have been made that any assertion of protection from disclosure is indicative of guilt and that the House’s assertion of impeachment power cannot be questioned by the executive,” Gardner, a Yuma Republican, asked in a written question. “Is that interpretation of the House’s impeachment power consistent with the Constitution? And what protects the executive from the House abusing the impeachment power in the future?”
Patrick Philbin, deputy counsel to the president, agreed with the premise of Gardner’s question, saying House Democrats were wrong to suggest Trump’s refusal to comply with subpoenas in the impeachment inquiry is a sign of guilt.
“The Constitution gives the House the sole power of impeachment, which means only that the House is the only place, the only part of the government, that has that power,” Philbin said. “It doesn’t say they have a paramount power of impeachment that destroys all other constitutional rights or privileges or immunities.”
“The (Constitution’s) framers recognized there could be partisan and illegitimate impeachments,” Philbin added. “They recognized that the House could impeach for the wrong reasons. They didn’t leave the executive branch totally defenseless to that.”
Gardner’s question came during the first of two days of senator questions. Those questions will continue Thursday, likely followed by votes on whether to subpoena witnesses and additional evidence Friday. Gardner announced Wednesday that he is opposed to subpoenaing witnesses.
Earlier in the day, U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, an Aurora Democrat and one of the seven House prosecutors, fielded a question from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California. Feinstein wanted to know whether there was evidence Trump linked the release of military aid to Ukrainian investigations.
“There is, in fact, overwhelming evidence that the president withheld military aid directly to get a personal, political benefit — to help his individual political campaign,” Crow said.
He cited the words of acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who said at an October press conference that Ukraine aid was withheld to solicit an investigation into Ukrainian election interference. Crow also cited the testimony of Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the European Union, who says he was told by Trump that Ukraine’s president should announce investigations Trump desired.
In response to a question from Feinstein and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Crow argued Trump’s defense team would welcome additional documents and witnesses if they proved Trump withheld aid for policy reasons or concerns about corruption in Ukraine, rather than his own political aspirations.
“If this was a specific debate about policy — a debate about corruption, a debate about burden-sharing — then let’s have the documents that would show that,” Crow said. “Let’s hear from the witnesses that would show that. Because the documents and witnesses that we have forwarded, that we have talked about, show the exact opposite.”
Two other Democratic senators, Ben Cardin and Tammy Baldwin, asked Crow whether Ukrainians knew aid was being withheld last July. The president’s defense attorneys have suggested they did not know, and therefore that a quid pro quo could not have occurred.
“Defense Department official Laura Cooper testified that her staff received two emails from the State Department on July 25, revealing that the Ukrainian embassy was asking about security assistance,” Crow said in response to the question, before proposing that the Senate subpoena those emails.
“The American people, in matters of national security,” Crow added, “deserve to go to bed every night knowing that the president — the commander in chief, the person who is ultimately responsible for the safety and security of our nation every night — has the best interests of them and their families and this country in mind, not the best interests of his political campaign. That is why we are here.”
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