Trump must be forced to take the stand in his Senate impeachment trial: Watergate prosecutor

On Saturday, former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman wrote that President Donald Trump must face cross-examination during his Senate impeachment trial for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

"There is no dispute that the witness with the most material knowledge of the facts surrounding the alleged shakedown of Ukraine is Donald J. Trump," wrote Akerman in Newsweek. "Indeed, he claims that his July 25th call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was 'perfect' and that he did nothing wrong. The problem for Trump is that his lies and obfuscation cannot withstand a vigorous cross-examination of the facts."

"These inconvenient facts include use of his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to wage a concerted campaign to pressure Ukraine into publicly announcing investigations into the Bidens; Trump's documented lack of interest in corruption in Ukraine as opposed to singling out the Bidens for his own political gain; Trump's direction to withhold the appropriated funds from Ukraine; and his public admissions about seeking election assistance from foreign governments," wrote Akerman.

"In a trial, a cross-examined Trump could not run away from the facts as the Republicans did in the House," wrote Akerman. "In a real trial the House would, as is standard practice in traditional American jurisprudence, be able to subpoena from the executive branch relevant documents that could be used to devastate Trump's alternative fact-based assertion of perfection."

In the Senate, Akerman continued, one of Trump's biggest obstacles will be Chief Justice John Roberts, who will be presiding over the trial. "While Chief Justice Roberts' decisions can be overruled by 51 senators, it may not be so easy for Mitch McConnell to muster those 51 votes. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski has already made it clear that she is in favor of a serious consideration of the facts," wrote Akerman. "If two more senators take the same constitutionally required position, we would have a fair trial with live witnesses."

"In essence, Mitch McConnell may not, as he has suggested, have the ability to control the format of the impeachment trial to exonerate Donald Trump," concluded Akerman. "In the final analysis, what cannot be comforting to Donald Trump is the possibility that the Senate will choose to exercise its constitutionally mandated duties."

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