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21:15 GMT
WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (KUNA) -- US President Donald Trump lawyers said Monday that the Articles of Impeachment before the Senate are "an affront to the Constitution and to our democratic institutions."
In a trial memorandum released by the White House, the lawyers stressed "the Articles themselves and the rigged process that brought them here are a brazenly political act by House Democrats that must be rejected.l
"They debase the grave power of impeachment and disdain the solemn responsibility that power entails," they added.
They noted that "anyone having the most basic respect for the sovereign will of the American people would shudder at the enormity of casting a vote to impeach a duly elected President."
"The process that brought the articles here violated every precedent and every principle of fairness followed in impeachment inquiries for more than 150 years," they said.
They continued "even so, all that House Democrats have succeeded in proving is that the President did absolutely nothing wrong."
They reiterated that "all of this is a dangerous perversion of the Constitution that the Senate should swiftly and roundly condemn."
The US Senate will start on Tuesday the impeachment trial of Trump over charges of abusing of power and obstructing Congress. Trump is the third president in US history to be impeachment by the House of Representatives.
According to a new Gallup poll, 46 percent of Americans want Trump to be convicted and removed from office while 51 percent do not want the Senate to convict him. (end)
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