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Trump says Senate should simply dismiss impeachment case against him

This article is more than 12 months old

But notion is unlikely, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi challenges Republicans to a 'fair' impeachment trial and not block new witness testimony

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said the Senate should simply dismiss the impeachment case against him, an extraordinary suggestion as the House prepares to transmit the charges to the chamber for the historic trial.

The President is giving mixed messages ahead of the House's landmark vote that will launch the Senate proceedings in a matter of days.

Mr Trump faces charges that he abused power by pushing Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden and then obstructed Congress.

First, Mr Trump was suggesting his own ideas for trial witnesses, then he said almost the exact opposite on Sunday by tweeting that the trial should not happen at all.

"Many believe that by the Senate giving credence to a trial," Mr Trump tweeted, "rather than an outright dismissal, it gives the partisan Democrat Witch Hunt credibility that it otherwise does not have. I agree!"

The idea of dismissing the charges is as unusual as it is unlikely.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell signed on to an outlier proposal circulating last week among conservative senators, but he does not have enough support in the Republican-held chamber to actually do it.

It would require a rare rules change similar to the approach Mr McConnell used for Supreme Court confirmations.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned on Sunday that senators will "pay a price" if they block new witness testimony with a trial that Americans perceive as a "cover-up" for Mr Trump's actions.

"It is about a fair trial," Ms Pelosi told ABC's This Week.

"The senators who are thinking now about voting for witnesses or not, they will have to be accountable."

She said: "Now the ball is in their court to either do that or pay a price."

Voters are divided over impeachment largely along the nation's deeply partisan lines, and the trial is becoming a high-stakes undertaking at the start of a presidential election year.

A House vote to transmit the articles to the Senate will bring to a close a stand-off between Ms Pelosi and Mr McConnell over the rules for the trial. The House voted to impeach Mr Trump last month.

NEW TESTIMONY

Yet ending one showdown merely starts another across the Capitol as the parties try to set the terms of debate over high crimes and misdemeanours.

Democrats want new testimony, particularly from former White House national security adviser John Bolton, who has indicated he will defy Mr Trump's orders and appear if subpoenaed.

Mr Trump does not want his brash former aide to testify.

Republican allies led by Mr McConnell are ready to deliver swift acquittal without new testimony.- AFP

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