President Donald Trump’s impeachment legal team told senators on Saturday that its response to the Democrat impeachment case will be brief.
“You heard the House managers speak for nearly 24 hours over three days,” White House counsel Pat Cipollone said. “We don’t anticipate using that much time.”
Cipollone said that they will be “respectful” of the time allotted, using two to three hours of their time on Saturday, allowing senators to leave by 1:00 p.m. Eastern at the latest.
“We don’t believe they have come anywhere close to meeting their burden for what they are asking you to do,” Cipollone said, referring to the Democrats.
Both House Democrats and White House counsel each received 24 hours over three days to make their arguments for impeachment.
Democrats spoke for more than 21 hours on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff stole the spotlight of the hearings, speaking almost twice as long as the other House impeachment managers combined.
Democrats used much of their time repeating their arguments and playing the same video clips several times to emphasize their case for impeachment.
“From a personal sense, it certainly seems to drag on late into the night, as the House Democrats repeat themselves time and time again,” Sen. Tom Cotton said on Thursday.
White House lawyers will make their arguments on Saturday, Monday, and, finally, Tuesday.
Trump’s lawyers could sense that some senators were growing weary of the repetitive nature of the hearings.
“We’re not going to play the same clips seven times,” Trump’s personal attorney, Jay Sekulow, said.
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