Trump sought to cheat to win re-election, Democrats charge at trial

Democrats began laying out a detailed case on Wednesday for the removal of President Donald Trump, accusing him at his historic Senate impeachment trial of seeking to cheat to ensure re-election in November.

Adam Schiff, the head of the prosecution team from the House of Representatives, took the floor of the Senate for opening arguments after lawmakers were told by the sergeant-at-arms to remain silent "on pain of imprisonment."
"These are politically charged times," he acknowledged. "Tempers can run high, particularly where this president is concerned." But, Schiff said, "the Constitution entrusts to you the responsibility of acting as impartial jurors."
Trump, who was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos as the historic trial got underway on Tuesday, blasted the proceedings as a "witchhunt" and a "hoax" and said he expected the Senate to clear him "fairly quickly."
The president defended the Republicans' rejection of Democratic efforts to force former national security advisor John Bolton and others to testify at his trial saying of Bolton, for example, that it would present a "national security problem."
"He knows what I think about leaders. What happens if he reveals what I think about a certain leader and it's not very positive?"