There are eight Republicans from the House of Representatives who were tapped to join President Donald Trump’s defense team in the Senate impeachment trial.
“Honored to continue fighting on behalf of ,” Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), one of the lawmakers on the list, tweeted.
Collins is among seven others who will be defending Trump against the Impeachment charges — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The Trump administration announced on Monday that the other Congressional members include Reps. Mike Johnson (R-La.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), John Ratcliffe (R-Ill.), and Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.).
The White House press secretary wrote in the announcement:
“The President looks forward to their continued participation and is confident that the Members will help expeditiously end this brazen political vendetta on behalf of the American people.”
Collins added on Twitter in a strong rebuke of the Impeachment charges against the president, “This Impeachment has been a sham since day one, and we will continue to expose it for what it is: A blatantly political attempt to overturn the will of 63 million Americans.”
Others of those chosen to defend Trump in the trial also reiterated their support of the president and blasted the entirety of the Impeachment.
“The President NEVER should have been impeached in the first place!” Zeldin tweeted late Monday.
Lesko wrote, “I will continue to fight against this corrupt unfair process and look forward to assisting President Trump as a member of his Impeachment Team.”
“It’s not complicated: when all is said and done, will be vindicated from this partisan Impeachment,” Meadows declared, adding, “The facts are on the President’s side.”
Check out their responses below:
https://twitter.com/RepRatcliffe/status/1219437279401390081
On Tuesday, the Senate is expected to pass a rules package for the trial proposed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday.
McConnell’s proposal includes providing the House’s Impeachment managers, as well as Trump’s defense lawyers, up to 24 hours to present their arguments, as The New York Times reports. Following the arguments, senators would ask questions, then they would decide whether to have witnesses.
The proposal, however, has already received a strong rebuke, including from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who argued that McConnell “is hell-bent on making it much more difficult to get witnesses and documents and intent on rushing the trial through,” as IJR reported.