In his latest thoughts about President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) spoke about arguments made by Trump legal team members.
Appearing in a video released Tuesday afternoon that lasted just over six minutes, Jones spoke about some of the core points made by Alan Dershowitz and Pam Bondi Monday afternoon and evening.
One of the most striking remarks in the video came towards the end, when Jones declared, “I am not persuaded at all that the abuse of power is an unimpeachable offense. I think it can be, I think it should be [impeachable].”
Trump is charged by the U.S. House of Representatives with abuse of power on the first impeachment article against him, as well as a second charge of obstruction of justice.
Jones started off the latest video by criticizing Ken Starr, who is best known as the independent counsel that investigated then-President Bill Clinton. Starr spoke out in the Senate against impeaching Trump on Monday.
Alabama’s junior senator subsequently chastised Trump’s legal team for accusing House impeachment managers of utilizing “distractions.”
“[Trump’s legal team] continue to push distractions,” Jones asserted.
“[T]hey talk about, of course, Hunter Biden — the biggest distraction of all,” he added.
The senator, who has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, lamented that Republicans did not start scrutinizing Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings until his father’s current campaign kicked off.
“We spent most of yesterday talking about distractions,” Jones further said.
He also reiterated that he has “some concerns” about the obstruction of justice impeachment charge against the president.
“I do think that there were serious issues raised yesterday that we’re trying to work through,” Jones advised. “I’m anxious to hear how House managers are going to respond to some of the issues that were raised by the president’s lawyers when it comes to article two, obstruction of justice.”
Watch:
After a week of this impeachment trial, I’ve still got a lot of questions for both the House managers and the President’s lawyers. But one thing I know for sure is that this should be about the facts and the future of the presidency, not about partisan politics. pic.twitter.com/Zxf2qLbs3D
— Doug Jones (@SenDougJones) January 28, 2020
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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