Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys say the House’s article of impeachment against him for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection is constitutionally flawed, infringes upon Trump’s freedom of speech and cannot result in his conviction.
In a 78-page brief, Trump’s lawyers argue that the Senate cannot convict a former president, and that the House’s impeachment is flawed because it groups multiple alleged offenses into a single article.
It’s a technical defense against a charge that Trump’s rhetoric and monthslong campaign to overturn the presidential election led to the deadly riots at the Capitol. The attorneys also rejected claims that Trump sat on his hands during the violence, describing for the first time a “flurry of activity inside the White House” to “navigate complex procedural elements” in order to get more security to the Capitol.
