Washington, D.C. – Last night, the House Managers in the impeachment trial of the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump – Adam Schiff, Jerrold Nadler, Zoe Lofgren, Hakeem Jeffries, Val Demings, Jason Crow, and Sylvia Garcia – issued the following joint statement following the President’s response to the summons:
“The House has presented powerful evidence that President Trump committed one of the most serious abuses of power in the history of the American Presidency by withholding military aid from an ally at war to coerce them to help him cheat in the next election. He then obstructed Congress in order to cover up his own misconduct. Though the President describes this conduct as perfect, the Founders had a different word for it: impeachable.
“Rather than honestly address the evidence against him, the President’s latest filing makes the astounding claim that pressuring Ukraine to interfere in our election by announcing investigations that would damage a political opponent and advance his reelection is the President’s way of fighting corruption. It is not. Rather it is corruption itself, naked, unapologetic and insidious. This is precisely why the President must be removed from office.”